Aureate Bonds
by Khait Khepri
Summary: Inside Gluttony, Edward took a gamble to get him, Ling, & Envy out of the unending dark. He used some of Envy's Stone & opened the Gate. But the equation turned out unbalanced & Ed... died. Yet Ed isn't the sort to be beaten easily & he swore he'd be back. Fem!Ed
1. I

**Aureate Bonds**

**Summary:** Inside Gluttony, Edward took a gamble to get him, Ling, & Envy out of the unending dark. He used some of Envy's Stone & opened the Gate. But the equation turned out unbalanced & Ed... died. Yet Ed isn't the sort to be beaten easily & he swore he'd be back.

**Ratings and Warnings:** Rated "M" for sake of expediency and my typical writing style. Intermittent foul and 'descriptive' language, a bit of sarcasm, etc. Oh, and there will be other things noted as they come relevant.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own FMA or any other referenced materials, plain and simple. All non-original content is owned by all respective copyright owners. This is not being produced for money but rather for my own amusement.

**Chapter Relevant References:** Star Wars, Doctor Who, Tangled

.

**I:**

The first thing Edward knew after regaining consciousness was… warmth. He was warm, secure, and cuddled into something that thumped loudly but reassuringly steady about him. He couldn't open his eyes, but he knew somehow he was safe. The second thing he knew was that he could feel… feel his entire body but most especially his left leg and right arm. The suddenly returned limbs were tucked against his body and while he could wiggle about a bit, he couldn't properly move to examine them even if he could have opened his eyes. The wonder at having his limbs restored made him move, pushing to find a way out of this warm, safe place as horror surged through him. If his limbs were restored, then Alphonse might be dead!

He suddenly recalled those endless moments of time within Gluttony's false Gate. He remembered all the anger, the rage, and the _frustration._ He could remember slogging through the blood, reuniting with Ling, and Envy appearing out of the blackness. He recalled the words Envy spoke, the horror he felt, and the fight that ended with him nearly being _eaten_. Then, of course, came the recalling of the circle from Xerxes meant to create a human and how he'd painted the circle out as he demanded more answers from Envy. And he _used_ that circle and a part of Envy's Stone. He remembered seeing himself before the real Gate and Truth's mocking words and seeing Alphonse sitting there emaciated and frail. He remembered…

…He remembered _dying_.

It was a sharp thought that made him still.

He'd not used enough of the Stone from Envy and truthfully he would have used _all_ of Envy up had he been capable of thinking about it, predilections towards using something as awful as the Stone and his own distaste for killing aside. After all, how many more times might he have actually a chance at defeating such a terrible enemy so easily handed to him? Then again, he didn't like the idea of murder and he willingly allowed himself to fall between realities with the prayer his madcap plan would all work in his mind. He'd been dumped in the more familiar yet no less horrifying place outside reality, catching sight of Al's terribly thin flesh and blood body, and knew that his theory had worked. Truth had laughed at him, telling him he was a fool and promptly jerked the rug out from underneath him. He'd been drug into his Gate and sent tumbling into the abyss and he'd not been able to get back to reality and Alphonse as he had hoped. Instead, he'd fallen into blackness with the knowledge that his life had _ended_. Suddenly he panicked, thrashing about again and wanting out of wherever this place was. But he couldn't get out despite the slightly giving quality to the walls. Was this a prison?!

Something outside of whatever this place was made itself known and it was something large, stroking at the limits of what he could get to. He could hear words but he couldn't understand them really. They were mumbled and muted and he was scared. Where was he? He couldn't make heads or tails of where he was. That damn thumping sound was loud in his ears and, where it had been comforting before, it was distracting and upsetting…

As he shifted away from the sound, he felt something coming from his navel and brushing at his skin as it floated about him in this strange place. It was fastened like a tether and he touched at it as best as he could before he suddenly realized what he was feeling, what he was _experiencing_.The realization crashed down on him with all the force of a maelstrom on a tiny ship caught out at sea even as he pushed the tether away in a futile effort to reject what he knew to be true.

The thumping sound was a _heart_.

That thing outside had to have been a _hand_.

He had a fucking _umbilical cord_ emerging from his middle.

He was in a _womb_.

The thought made him horrified and wish for escape even if he could do nothing about it. He was in some lady that was in all likelihood _not_ his mother as she was dead unless he'd managed to go backwards in time and not just simply die to be apparently reincarnated. The hand rubbed at the outside of the belly and the words that were somewhat garbled and muted had a reassuring tone and he shifted again, curling up slightly to get away and mindful of the umbilical cord. He did not want to pinch himself off and kill himself despite how awful this situation was. Edward wished he could have opened his eyes but he couldn't and, while the amazing-ness of pregnancy and the creation of life were not really lost to him, he certainly didn't want to be the one to be born again. The idea of going through childhood once more was unappealing and he knew he'd be useless to his brother until he got old enough…

And that period of time was something he didn't have.

He wasn't sure how long he remained in the womb or even how long he'd been in the most primal of cradles when it came to mothers and babes before he'd become aware. There wasn't exactly a _clock_ inside the woman even if he had had the ability to use his eyes and his awareness of the world was warped because he woke and slept frequently and when he did have a sense of time it was because he dreamed or perhaps 'hallucinated' as sometimes he'd be 'awake' when dreaming and not because he was overly aware.

He remembered trying to shift about and listening to the people that would interact with him through the wall of skin that formed the barriers of his intelligible world. Sometimes the womb would be sent into a contraction, tightening slightly about him and the fluid around him, but would let up again after a bit. Eventually, his head came to be pointed down as he grew larger and he knew from what little he'd researched about human reproductive habits that he was within the final months of the pregnancy and that during this time he'd gain the majority of his weight.

Whoever was outside the confines of his current world seemed to be nice, for he could hear kind words and could feel the vibrations of fond touches to the wall. Occasionally, there was an odd press of something and he didn't like that much as it roved over the belly for it wasn't a hand. It felt far smaller and sometimes a faint chill would come down to where he was and he'd try to shift away from it. Whatever it was, it knew where he was and would track him down in the ever shrinking area as he grew, pausing on occasion and then shifting slightly again. Granted, he had little space to move in, but whatever it was, he was less than thrilled with it and wished it would just go _away_.

Eventually, it was time for him to be born. He had been asleep at the time and had been completely unaware what the settling he'd done lately meant. He had been trying to be mindful and kind to the woman who carried him even if he was here unwillingly and despite the things she did to him. She had developed a nasty habit during the earlier months and had often imbibed juice, waking him as cold shocked through him in the wee hours of what he assumed was the morning and the sugar flooded his system and made him uncomfortably hyper. He'd gotten a few shots off for each time she did that, purposefully kicking at her lungs or head-butting at her bladder or even shooting a little hand at the general direction of her spine. His favorite spot was the solid area of her navel if he could get to it. But this time, it wasn't cold juice waking him up this time. It was a tight pressure about him that startled him awake and unlike earlier contractions it felt different. At first, he didn't know what was going on until the contraction came again and there were startled and worried words being spoken as her heart rate picked up rapidly and the loud sound reverberated like a war drum in his ears.

A hand smoothed over the outside of her belly and he pressed into it, hoping to give her comfort. It wasn't her fault he was here. Well, technically it wasn't her fault he was now her baby. It _was_ her fault that she was pregnant. Hopefully. The idea of rape was a repugnant one.

Edward wasn't sure how long he'd remained in that dark place that contracted when the amniotic fluid keeping him suspended started to vanish. That meant serious business and he knew it would soon be time. Perhaps it had been a good thing that he had been around Satella's birth of her son. It gave him an idea to the rhythm of things if nothing else. A very _loose_ rhythm but a rhythm. He tried not to worry or panic. There was no way he'd die considering he'd been very careful with his umbilical cord and nothing ought to possibly cause him issues while coming out.

Outside his temporary housing, he heard his 'mother' groan and be shuffled about before laying back in what had to be a bed. As fascinating as being aware through the process of birth was, Edward was _not_ really having any fun. He also quietly resolved to himself he'd _never_ get a girl into this condition as the yowls of pain and the pants of effort coming to his ears despite being inside her body were definitely not something he wanted to inflict upon a female. Between the groans that reminded him of Satella's birth and his current predicament of knowing he was about to go through every centimeter of birth, he was definitely against getting a woman knocked up.

Slowly being shoved out upon each successive contraction, he felt the top of his head push out into coolness and was glad he'd not had much in the way of vision. He heard something about 'crowning' and felt hands on him, urging him out and then it was _cold_ and open and he couldn't help the startled coughing cry as something was stuck into his mouth to syphon off the fluid still there. There was a pain as he was severed from his mother and he complained as verbosely as he could to the mistreatment, which thanks to underdeveloped vocal cords meant he bawled loudly.

And then he heard the person holding him declare, "Congratulations, Mrs. Dyne. It's a girl."

'_Oh… fuck…'_ So startled by the declaration, Edward Elric stopped his litany of wailed incoherent and indecipherable curses immediately and prayed he'd heard wrong. All that the surrounding adults heard was a baby fall silent and they immediately checked the infant to ensure there wasn't an issue.

There wasn't, of course, save for one very _shocked_ baby that wasn't even sure how to best articulate the words 'what the fuck' without properly developed vocal cords.

.

He, as it turned out, had _not_ heard wrong. After being weighed, measured, and documented, he'd been carefully wrapped up and handed over to the woman that had birthed him. Another person, a man whom he assumed to be his father, came forward to lightly brush his fingers over Edward's stocking-capped head and softly said, "She's beautiful."

"Yes, she is," his mother crooned, trying to coax Ed into suckling from her breast. While not cow juice, it was still _milk_. "Our little Evelyn Alma."

Evelyn Alma. He'd been named _Evelyn Alma_. It wasn't a bad name, so to speak, but he was not enthused at all about the situation. And he was getting hungry. There was nothing else to feed on other than the woman's tit and he knew his new and fragile body wouldn't be able to take anything more than the fluid she offered for a while. He'd eventually been able to open his eyes a bit, spying out a somewhat blurred face of dark blonde hair and hazel green eyes. She was pretty, fairly close to what a feminine Alphonse would have looked like, and while he knew this was his mother he felt no real attachment to her. But he was hungry and he had little in the way of options. After a while, he began suckling at the nipple before his mouth and manfully subsisted off of the substance he had no interest in.

It took everything in him not to gag reflexively though his tiny body apparently liked it.

He got sleepy after his belly was filled… or, perhaps he should start thinking of himself as 'she'. Female. 'Of the fairer sex'. It was mind boggling. He didn't want to be a girl. He didn't want to be here and a helpless infant. Alphonse was waiting for him. Ling was still in danger. He had to tell everyone about what had happened within Gluttony's belly.

He couldn't let Al stay alone too long.

Despite these worried thoughts, he found himself growing tired. His infant body was still tiny and frail, much like Satella's baby boy was when he'd been born, and so quick to sleep. Edward didn't like it, but he accepted it. When he felt hands on him and the man's voice telling the woman that he was putting 'her' to bed, Ed cracked his eyes open to look at his apparent father. Bronze-colored short hair was his first impression and light colored brown eyes. Again, the man looked familiar like the woman and drew parallels to that bastard Hohenheim without the quite as strong jaw or the beard. He did wear glasses and his eyes were gentle. Ed huffed slightly, allowing his eyes to close again.

'_I'm already hating this entire baby thing,'_ he thought, yawning once before dropping off into slumber.

.

The Dyne family was an interesting one, Edward concluded after having been allowed from the hospital. Well, not really 'Edward' anymore. He was now a she and Edward had died. Evelyn was the name given to her now and she had to repeatedly remind herself that the Dynes were kind, nice people and that throwing fits right and left was probably not only rude but stupid. Evelyn was many things in her past life as Edward, but stupid was not really a prominent factor. Short sighted, arrogant, and any number of other 'shortcomings' but the Fullmetal Alchemist was definitely not stupid.

Evelyn's new room was actually very interesting. From what she could tell, her parents were quirky, unusual, and her father was especially the sort to mess with people's heads. What little the infant could see, she could tell that if nothing else the pair had imagination. Her mobile above her bed was apparently from some series called 'Star Wars' and her mother had been the kind to talk to her in a mature way rather than pure baby talk, telling the infant about the different things on the mobile. Sure, the woman talked in a slightly higher pitched tone to Evelyn and the sort of tone one would adopt with little babies, but at least she didn't go 'ga-ga-goo' or some bullshit like that.

There were other decorations relating to this 'Star Wars' and they liked to put her in clothes that related to their geeky ways, often encouraging some badmouthing from an older woman that Evelyn learned was her grandmother. Apparently a 'Dalek dress', whatever that was, was not appropriate for a little girl, no matter how 'cute' she appeared. Evelyn wasn't quite sure what to make of it all, but she was for the most part a happy baby and didn't cry overmuch unless she needed to be fed, changed, or put to bed. In fact, she quickly learned to soothe herself, something that her parents were honestly astonished at, and how to be just the right kind of cutesy annoying.

The Dynes apparently didn't mind fetching the plastic pacifier that Evelyn didn't care much for each time she threw it or dropped it.

She did, however, throw fits if she was put in pink or overly idiotic clothing. The young parents were amused by how their infant, going on eight months by this time and nearing October and her first Halloween, already knew exactly how she preferred to be dressed. The child had no aversion to dresses, but she did wiggle a bit more than necessary and pout heartily if they tried to put on pink clothing.

"Hey, little princess," cooed her father, scooping her up in his arms. Evelyn made a face at him, wrinkling her tiny nose. She hated being called anything related to 'small' and while she could burble at the bronze-haired man, she couldn't exactly get across she didn't like being called 'little'. "How's my girl?"

Evelyn dutifully made a noise, knowing it would make the loving man happy. Brandon, her father's name, was a good man. He held a steady job working as a police homicide detective and while Evelyn worried about him getting in over his head someday, he did good work and reminded Evelyn a good deal of a blonder and calmer Maes Hughes. It was probably the biggest reason she took to him so well. He could get away with calling her 'little' even if she didn't like it, because her heart still ached about having lost the Lieutenant Colonel. And just like she predicted, he lit up at the burble that Evelyn made sound positive. Pressing a tiny hand to his face, she considered the man. He was nothing like that bastard Hohenheim, fortunately, and she wondered if she could one day tell the man about her other life… the life before she was his daughter.

Her mother, Samantha, entered the room soon after. "Hey, there, you two," she cooed, brushing her fingers against Evelyn's face before pecking Brandon on the cheek. She was pregnant again and Evelyn wondered if it would be a boy or a girl. She knew they were having trouble with the pregnancy, though, and hoped that this baby would survive. The idea of the kind woman and man losing their second child was a bit worrisome. She'd heard Samantha's mother talk about her miscarriages before Evelyn and the former teen knew that she'd been extremely lucky to have survived the pregnancy. "Getting her ready for going over to Amelia's?"

"Yeah. Hope that she takes to Pete even if he's a bit older than her." Sam giggled.

"Don't start planning who she's to marry right away, dear. She's still less than a year old!"

Evelyn scrunched her face, not liking the idea of being matched up to anybody. And another baby? She didn't want to be around another baby! She tried very hard to remain clean and not shit all over herself at every opportunity and she didn't like the idea of meeting some other smelly critter that would probably poke at her and mouth odd sounds.

Regardless of how she felt, Evelyn found herself soon dressed in a pair of tiny jeans and a bright red hoodie top that she had grabbed ahold of and not let go last time they'd been at the store. It was a boy's top, actually, but she had liked the color and that it was a hoodie. It even had a tiny little pocket on the front that she could even put something small into! Little socks that looked like shoes went onto her feet and she had her short crop of golden blonde hair brushed gently before she was swept up and on her way in her baby seat to this Amelia's house. Honestly, sometimes being waited on hand and foot was kind of funny but most of the time she just wished they'd let her take care of herself.

The technology of this world often astounded her. The car, a van as her parents called it, was sleek looking with soft seats of fabric and a radio built in to allow the broadcast of different stations. There was even a screen that you could touch and manipulate and get to give you directions to wherever you wanted to go! And that was just the vehicle! There were these boxy things called computers and smaller 'computers' you could carry around easily called notebooks, laptops, and tablets. The phones were cordless and they functioned like tiny 'computers', too. There were televisions and microwaves and all kinds of other things that she had not much clue about but it all fascinated her anyway and made her excited to get older so that she could study.

She observed obsessively and learned much about the world around her. Fortunately, her childish staring and contemplation went mainly unnoticed though Sam thought it was 'precious' how her 'little Eve-y' was so curious. Brandon thought that his little princess would likely grow up to be a genius reflecting her parents' intellects. Evelyn had smirked as well as an infant could have. They had _no_ idea.

Arriving at Amelia's house… Amelia Brown as Brandon loudly exclaimed upon seeing the heavy-set brown eyed and brown haired white lady in tee-shirt and jeans while the man hugged her and Sam unbuckled Evelyn from her chair… Evelyn was unsurprised when the woman took one look at her and gushed over how cute Evelyn was. She waxed poetic right on her driveway about Evelyn's golden eyes and hair, but Evelyn herself was unimpressed. It turned out, from what she could pick up from the conversation as they moved inside, that Amelia was Brandon's partner at the station. She was incredibly sharp, though her love for chocolate and junk food had put her at the 'chunky' level of fitness and she had a pair of knockers on her to rival a porn star's.

Evelyn cringed mentally at that thought. She had recalled accidentally seeing some 'porn' of Brandon's when she'd turned the television on in curiosity, accidentally turning on the DVD player, too. The unadulterated shriek of shock and the beet red face of Sam had been well worth seeing the graphic tape and Evelyn wondered if doing that actually felt that good.

Sure she'd whacked off when she'd been a teenage boy, but she wondered if the moans were for real until she remembered this was more for show than for sensation. Clinically, she observed the actions on the screen until it went dark again and Sam had turned on a sheepish Brandon, fussing at him about leaving his porno stash where babies could get to it. All Evelyn got out of it was the thought that some of the positions she saw had looked really uncomfortable.

When she came out of her thoughts about Amelia's tits, she realized she was sitting face to face with a black haired, blue eyed baby boy. He was dressed in blue overalls and blinking at her slowly and considering. Evelyn stared right back at him. That was when the baby grinned broadly and poked a finger at her and proudly declaimed "Ed!" Evelyn stared. "Ed!" the boy, Peter most likely, claimed again, reaching out to Evelyn.

She reached out to him and grasped his slightly larger hand, stifling the urge to cry. "Hugh…" she mumbled, speaking for the first time. "Hugh…" She recognized him! She recognized her old friend in the other and the boy looked extraordinarily pleased.

"They like each other!" Amelia said from outside their line of sight as Peter scooted toward Evelyn. "But… Ed?"

"That's a cute nickname," Sam mused with a huffed chuckle. "But… is she calling him something, too?" Her mother crouched down next to the pair of children, noting their grasping hands and the visibly upset look on her little girl's face. "Baby girl, what's wrong?"

"Hughes!" Evelyn managed, pressing into the older toddler.

"Hues?" Brandon wondered. "Odd first word." And then there was a pause. "She spoke her first word!"

"Say it again, sweetie," encouraged Sam, tickling at the little girl's hair.

"Eddie," soothed Peter. "S'okay."

"Know," offered Evelyn, not wanting to speak too much. It might have been too early to already be forming coherent words but she didn't care. She was just glad that she was able to be here with him. Knowing that the kind man had survived to some degree meant more than she'd thought and here and now Evelyn was really happy.

They played for several hours and Evelyn slowly realized that while Hughes had been reincarnated in this world, he didn't seem to retain an overlarge amount of memories from his previous life. In fact, what little of the rambunctious man was left often came in little starts and vanished not long after. Evelyn didn't care. Hughes was here and he was alive and healthy. Suddenly playing with the other wasn't so bad and Amelia offered up her babysitter during the day as she had a good friend that was great with her son watch over him during the day while she worked. Sam and Brandon agreed, though Evelyn didn't hear as she'd fallen asleep next to the older boy with a smile on her face.

.

The next month came and at the end of October, Evelyn discovered 'Halloween'. Her parents decided to dress her up in a tiny dress that was purple and pink and somewhat old fashioned. Grumpy with the outfit, she had tried to get out of it several times, but was stopped before she could do so. Apparently it was the dress for some Disney princess… Rappy-uncle or something like that. Evelyn vaguely recalled the brightly colored movie and the frying pan wielding girl with impossibly long hair. In some ways the thought amused her because she already knew she was going to grow her hair out as long as she could until she got old enough to go back to Alphonse.

Amelia had dressed Peter up in some outfit that supposedly matched Evelyn's and she guessed that it was that guy from the movie, too. It didn't help that Peter snickered at seeing her in a dress and she sourly sulked until she got her revenge… By the time that Peter caught his breath, he was red faced and ready to nap. Apparently laughing as hard as he did was quite tiring. Evelyn just decided that it was better that she'd tickled him instead of her first instinct to punch. Peter didn't always remember being Hughes and while Hughes would have brushed off such a thing, Evelyn knew Peter wouldn't be as likely to understand. Later on, she decided, she would make sure he did get punched.

The result of Halloween was a lot of coos, a lot of pictures, and a trio of very proud parents. Amelia Brown, it turned out, had undergone in-vitro fertilization and had chosen to have a child by herself. Evelyn was surprised at that, but it wasn't like Peter was lacking attention from not having a father. By the time Halloween was over, both Evelyn and Peter were half asleep and they both had managed to get a lot of candy for their parents. Evelyn had gotten a severe amount of amusement from it all and Peter had enjoyed being fawned over.

Sighing happily in her seat, Evelyn wondered if this was just like how it had been the first time she'd been a baby. And then she frowned and blinked and sighed a good deal more unhappily. She missed Al. Sam had miscarried her child of three months and had been fighting serious depression issues over the loss of her unborn child. Evelyn, heartbroken for her new mother, had done everything she could to ease the Alphonse-esque woman's pain. Being a right mess and trying to make her laugh helped, her mother unknowing of the effort her daughter was putting into the actions and assuming the child to be doing these things naturally. Evelyn, however, just kept trying. She might not love this woman as much as Trisha Elric, but she did care about her. After a moment's thought, she readjusted the statement. She did love this woman as much as her first mother, but not quite the same. And the idea of leaving Samantha Dyne childless hurt her almost as much as not going back to Alphonse.

.

Thanksgiving became an interesting holiday for Evelyn. There was apparently a lot of cooking involved, watching something called the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on the television, football (but it didn't look like any football she'd ever seen before), and a gathering time for family. Dressed in a tiny fluffy skirt of gauzy red, black baby-sized tights, little red patent leather shoes, a sweater of white stitched with red into an argyle pattern, and a red bow that managed to be nudged off rather quickly, Evelyn wondered how quickly she could (or, rather, _would_) mess up her clothes. Unaware of her thoughts, her parents were chattering happily in the front seat while they headed over to Grandma Wendy's house. Grandma Wendy was the evil old biddy (in Evelyn's opinion) that had been the sort to try and coax the parents into dressing Evelyn in a more girly fashion.

Samantha and Brandon both had calmly told her to try dressing Evelyn in a manner Evelyn didn't like and had gotten growled at by the child before she scooted off and dragged Peter with her. Peter hadn't stopped calling Evelyn 'Ed' and while Wendy Miller disapproved of the odd nickname, everyone else that Evelyn liked still called her that. Well, except her father. Brandon still called her 'princess'. Peter had not been anything but 'Hughes' to her, but that was a harder to explain nickname and no one understood why Evelyn insisted on calling her best friend that. Each time she did, Peter would grin brightly and those blue eyes of his would sparkle. For her, that was enough.

There were a number of other children at this Thanksgiving and they all were related to her somehow. Evelyn stayed near Peter, though, as Amelia had come along for this Thanksgiving at Brandon's insistence and of course brought her son. There were a couple other kids near their age, but Evelyn didn't care to play with them. One brat had even shoved her over and had run off giggling. Evelyn had tumbled into dog shit and she had purposefully stomped over to the brat and socked him one with all the knowledge of Teacher's lessons behind that baby fist, causing him to cry. Her knuckles smarted afterwards and she didn't really mind being yelled at by some of the adults… They all seemed to realize what had happened when she had subsequently marched up to her mother and stated very sourly, "Look. He did it." With one point at the fecal matter on her clothes, Evelyn made her point known. It was irritating to curtail her words, but she had no interest in letting these people know her real self and she was already showing a good deal of advancement already. If anyone would learn, it would be Peter, her mother and father, and Aunt Amelia.

After getting cleaned up and changed into less 'cute' clothes, Evelyn reappeared dressed in her favorite hoodie and jeans. Peter had run up, examined her, and then promptly pushed her over again with a snickered 'Shorty'.

Sprawling, Evelyn let out an ungodly shriek of rage and promptly lost control of her tongue. "_Who're you callin' short?!_" A moment later, everyone saw a furious Evelyn chasing a giggling Peter while she shouted after him. "Get back here, Hughes!"

"No way!" Peter laughed, running more steadily than Evelyn. "Catch me, Shorty!" The little girl eventually stumbled and fell on her unsure legs as she had only recently begun walking, but to the astonishment of many she was immediately back on her feet and going after her friend again, not bothering to cry or anything despite the scuffs on her clothes due to the hard tumble. And even though Peter ran, the adults saw him slow down each time his friend fell too far behind with a knowing grin.

"Those two are old souls," wondered Grandma Wendy, though no one save Brandon heard. He smirked.

"She's been good for Sam, making her laugh when I can't. I think she's doing it on purpose."

"If she is, then I hope she keeps remembering who she is or was. You might want to talk to her, see if she can tell you much."

"I'll keep it in mind," assented Brandon.

.

She'd never seen so many presents. Piled around her, Evelyn knew that whatever she was going to get would likely be a bit babyish or something, but she didn't think too much on it. With her parents encouraging her to open the gifts, Evelyn took one soft package and carefully scrabbled fingers into it. Tearing it, the almost one-year-old found a toy within. The tag, she read, was labeled from Aunt Amelia, but she knew immediately who had been more likely to pick it out. It was a golden cat shaped stuffed animal with beady black eyes and she stared in astonishment. Looking over at Peter, who was busy with his own presents, she hugged the cat to her.

"I think she likes it."

'_Of course I do,'_ she thought.

"What are you going to name it?" Brandon asked, remembering the conversation he'd had with his mother-in-law on Thanksgiving.

"Al," she immediately answered, not hesitating for a second. Hearing the name, Peter looked up and that _knowing_ gleam in his eye told Evelyn that Hughes had come back for a bit. He grinned so familiarly and she grinned back, not interested in putting the cat down in order to open more of the presents. She didn't miss the curious look on the adults' faces or the way they looked at each other in confusion. It wasn't some little cute name that a kid could think up of. "Al…" _'I miss you.'_

Opening the rest of her presents, she discovered clothes, bigger than the ones she wore, and toys. The toys weren't all that interesting beyond the cat as they were for babies, but she was shocked when a real kitten appeared in the crackling mess of paper. Touching the calico, she knew it would be a girl. No male cat was ever a calico. And it had two blue eyes of a familiar shade.

Her mother spoke as she gently petted the nuzzling kitten. "How about we name her…"

Before another word was edged out, Evelyn was instantly naming the cat. "Winry."

"Winry?" wondered Amelia. "First Al and then Winry? Your girl's got some odd ideas for names."

The cat just climbed up into the baby's lap, sniffing at the toy Evelyn kept pressed to her side. Brandon, however, chose to speak up. "Hey, princess?" Yellow eyes looked up at her father and blinked at him. "Are Winry and Al friends?" She found herself shaking her head quickly. "They're not?"

"Uh uh," she muttered, wincing slightly as the claws of the kitten dug into tender flesh as she kneaded the child. Pushing the kitten away gently, she frowned at the pinpricks of red on her leg. Immediately Sam was fussing over her, worried about the scratches. Patting her mother's cheek, Evelyn smiled. _'Not that I can talk about it too much just yet,'_ she thought fondly. _'But they're family.'_

Christmas, she thought, wasn't too bad. It was a shame all of her family wasn't there, but…

Evelyn swore again to herself that she'd get home as soon as she was able.

.

.

.

Author's Note: I first started this fic on a lark and was originally purposeless other than having fun with it. As I went along, the idea grew on me more and more until... Voila. We had the first chapter of "Aureate Bonds". The pregnancy scene was mostly a contrivance between my own sister's pregnancy and what perhaps an aware child might go through within the womb. I sincerely don't think most infants find the process of being carried and born traumatizing. Ed, however, is not average.

**Please review. I appreciate feedback.**


	2. II

**Aureate Bonds**

**Summary:** Inside Gluttony, Edward took a gamble to get him, Ling, & Envy out of the unending dark. He used some of Envy's Stone & opened the Gate. But the equation turned out unbalanced & Ed... died. Yet Ed isn't the sort to be beaten easily & he swore he'd be back.

**Ratings and Warnings:** Rated "M" for sake of expediency and my typical writing style. Intermittent foul and 'descriptive' language, a bit of sarcasm, gender bending (Fem!Edward), etc.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own FMA or any other referenced materials, plain and simple. All non-original content is owned by all respective copyright owners. This is not being produced for money but rather for my own amusement.

**Chapter Relevant References:** Sherlock Holmes (and any relevant reincarnations of Sir Doyle's work), Harry Potter

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**Reviews:** Thank you to 'Guest' for the first review of the story. (I wish you had left a name other than 'Guest' for at least posterity.) That review was actually probably the best review I've ever had and not because there wasn't critiquing but because you had such an incredible reaction to it. Also, thanks to Jackellynekolove for giving my second review.

Oh, and I told my sister right after I'd posted the first chapter about using her and her experiences as a sort of template for Ed in the womb. She got all exasperated and embarrassed before telling me to include a scene where he was shocked by cold water. I told her I had but it was juice rather than water and how it made him hyper and encouraged him to kick out. She couldn't help but laugh. I realize now that Ed wouldn't have known that Sam was drinking juice so I might go revamp that a bit. Then again, he could have logically figured that one out.

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**II:**

Yawning, a four year old Evelyn sat patiently next to her best friend, Peter. They were being taught their letters and how to read and the tiny blonde girl was bored _witless_. She already knew her letters and how to read. Heck, she was reading far beyond anything that these idiots could probably understand!

Said idiots were the other kids (and adults) in the preschool that her parents had enrolled her in. Amelia had also enrolled Peter and once again the two of them were as thick as thieves. Because of her inattention, she was not surprised she was called on to perhaps come up and read from the book.

Irritated, she stood and took one glance at the large print book from where she stood before giving the teacher a very bored look. "It's a book about a dog that can't find his way home. All very sad and cutesy and eventually he makes it home because this kind of book never has a sad ending," the reborn alchemist told her teacher blandly and getting a very startled look for it. There were a few children that also sent her odd looks of confusion as well. "Can I go do something more fun? Like, I dunno… draw or read better books with _less_ pictures?"

"Um… sure…" murmured the amazed Miss Abby of her preschool. Evelyn, her hair down to her waist and plaited into a long braid, eyes as gold as the sun, and a temper as fiery as ever, happily walked away to draw some transmutation circles. She had to keep her practice up and she wanted to figure out how to get back home. It would mean leaving Peter and her parents behind, but she had to get back to her brother.

Eventually, Peter came over to her and stared over her shoulder. "Whatcha drawin'?" he asked as he crowded closer to look.

"Not much, Hughes," she replied. "Just a basic circle." Showing him the artwork, she was unsurprised to hear him huff.

"Alchemists are _weird_."

"Says the guy that shoves pictures in people's faces," she groused. He still did that, actually, only it revolved more around his artwork and a picture of his dog or things like that. He grinned at her before poking her in her side.

"Eddie's a shorty!" Immediately she snapped and bolted after the madly laughing Peter.

"_Who're you callin' a baby so small she can't even see over the kitchen table without a super tall booster seat, you little jerk?!_"

Perhaps it could be said that the preschool was becoming very used to the pair's antics because all Mrs. Higgs did was call for them to settle down while the kids merely looked after them.

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Evelyn was frustrated… Very, _very_ frustrated. While it was simple enough to recreate the alchemy circle that had killed her, she was having trouble figuring out a new one that would take her right back to where she left. Alchemy wasn't supposed to involve temporal or trans-dimensional equations. It was supposed to only go so far as chemistry, biology, and what she was discovering as physics. What she _wanted_ it to do was more like something out of a science fiction book. During the trips to the library, Evelyn was making notes from various books. They'd studied so much more here and while she found herself occasionally diverted by books on rockets and aeronautic engineering, submarines and computers, military and cultural histories, and so much more… She still primarily focused on what could tie into alchemy.

And in the midst of it all, she'd hit a wall. Granted, she'd only really been able to start studying while she was three and first introduced to the library. Samantha Dyne was a civil engineer and made good money. Brandon Dyne was a very educated man behaving similarly to a modern-day Sherlock that didn't have as many sociopathic and therefore psychotic tendencies (she'd seen the movies and read some of the books on the sly while said detective wasn't looking). Both of them were high-end thinkers and were very curious about the world. They were geeky and nerdy, both sides fueled by an insatiable need to have new ideas. Evelyn understood that need perfectly.

Didn't help that she'd hit that damnable wall.

"Shit," she swore softly as she tried to figure out the next step. Gold eyes peered carefully at the stacks before her eyes. "Now… If I were a book about time travel that had semi-legitimate sources… where would I be?" Tapping at her chin, she considered her options. What she was trying to do was very similar to magic, but the tiny scientist shuddered at the thought of doing 'magic'. There were stories about mechanically operable time travel, but that was all they were: stories. There were stories involving magical time travel, but again… _stories_. That Rowling woman's works for one more popular example. Problem was… Evelyn was slowly coming to the conclusion she might have to look at 'magic' resources. Science here didn't involve anything resembling an alchemic array, but she'd seen ritual circles in some of the magic stuff and she knew those designs were likely based on very real sources.

Sighing, she leaned against the shelf behind her and continued to eye the shelf.

"I hate this," she grumbled. "I don't _do_ 'magic'."

"Magic?"

Evelyn's head turned to look up at what she first took to be a teenage girl. Her chin length wavy hair was dark red… a hair color Evelyn had never seen before… and her almond-shaped eyes a forest green. She was pale, but not unhealthily so. Her face was as delicate seeming as the rest of her body, giving the image of someone that seemed more a fairy tale creature than human, a button nose and full lips giving an illusion of childishness that was belied by the hourglass frame she had and the knowing little quirk to her lips. And there was something in those eyes… something that was just as knowing as the quirk to her lips_... _Something older. For all of her seeming teenager look, Evelyn realized she couldn't tell how old the redhead was. She could be fifteen or sixteen or she could be in her twenties. And that lack of being able to place her made the four-year-old a little uneasy. Add to that, her demeanor was jaunty, _knowing_, and (thankfully) not the image of a fighter. Her clothing consisted of a smart looking knee-length black skirt that rested at her waist and flared from her hips and a deep green tailored button-down blouse with lacy little touches tucked into the waistband of her skirt and billowed a little out from it, showing she was fussy enough to keep it tucked in just right but not so fussy as it had to be flat against her skin. Her feet were encased in Mary-Janes and she wore a necklace featuring a Celtic Cross of beaten silver.

The woman smiled a little more. "I think this is the wrong section for magic books, cutie." Evelyn just eyed her.

"I'm aware," the child said flatly. "End of the shelf said something about _science_."

"Smart little mouth you've got. I'm Alethea Gates."

Evelyn growled audibly, yellow eyes turning agate hard. "I'm _not_ little."

"Says the… what… five-year-old?" That kindled a bit of warmth in Evelyn's chest. Being mistaken for someone older than she actually was meant she didn't look _that_ little. "Anyway, do you want a story about magic?"

"No."

There was a slight flicker of amusement in the older female's eyes. "So, you want to _study_ magic? Little young for that, aren't you?"

Evelyn's scowl didn't abate a whit. "Look, lady. I don't get where you're coming from and I don't think I care to. Why don't you skip on your merry way and leave me the hell alone?"

That earned her a very surprised look. "You… don't talk like a little kid," mused the redhead, her eyes turning considering. "What's your name?"

"Why should I tell you?" Evelyn could do pugnacious like nobody's business. That got her a smile.

"You're a feisty one. I already told you my name, though. Remember? Alethea Gates."

Evelyn snorted and glanced away. "Evelyn Dyne."

"Cute name. Bet you'll be pretty awesome one day."

'_Already am, not that you'll ever know.'_

"Well, if you _do_ want to learn magic, I know a good shop. Not one of those fancy new-age shops but one that actually has fairly decent books and stuff. You're still a bit young, but I've got the address for you right here." She dug out a card from her purse and held it out to Evelyn. The little girl took it and looked it over before eying the older female again. "Yes, I work there," chuckled Alethea.

"So, if you're some kind of witch, then why are you in the science section?"

"Wiccan, sweetie. I'm Wiccan, not 'witch'. And I've got Druidic leanings, too."

"And your cross?" Evelyn asked, pointing at the beaten metal.

"I'm a bit cosmopolitan and I like the symbol. Anyway, reason I was here was because I was walking past and heard you talking about time travel and dimensions. That's not normal little kid talk." She hesitated. "Is Evelyn Dyne your real name?"

"The one I was born with," Evelyn shot back. "And stop calling me _little_. I'm not _little_." Each time she spoke the diminutive, she spat it like a swear word.

"Feisty," grumbled Alethea. "Anyway, take care. Come by sometime, if your parents let you. Oh, word to the wise for you. Yes, I gave you my real name, but words and names have power so you ought to be careful when giving out your real name." Evelyn considered the woman before nodding slowly.

"Right," she drawled before giving the older girl a toothy grin that didn't hold an ounce of kindness in it. "Gotta get back now. See ya, Thea." Picking up her notebook, she moved past the other person and back to where the other kids were.

"That kid's just _weird_," mused Alethea before she returned to her own perusal of books.

"Hughes!" Evelyn pounced the dark haired boy, sending him tumbling forward into the carpet of the library with a squawk of surprise, filing away the conversation she'd had with the red-haired girl away for later. "Guess what I wanna do?"

"Break my nose?" he asked and Evelyn knew Hughes had resurged a bit. Peter wasn't that sarcastic yet. Blue eyes regarded the golden child as soon as they readjusted.

"Not intentionally. I wanna get into martial arts."

Peter eyed her with considering eyes. "You sure about that? You're pretty tough already. And it's not very girly."

"I will _never_ be girly."

A flash of teeth bared in a grin. "Wanna bet?" Evelyn considered her friend.

"With you? No." That smile turned into a laugh and he patted her shoulder.

"Smart shorty." She punched him and gained a yelp. "That _hurt_!"

"It was supposed to! Be glad you aren't someone I don't like! Besides, you should get into it, too!"

"What 'too'?"

"Martial arts!"

"Mom wouldn't let me!"

"Bet I could convince her!"

Peter considered his friend. "Now, I'll take that bet. You drink a glass of milk if you can't." The devilish gleam in his eye was not lost on the scowling Evelyn. "Cow milk and not soy or almond." He was met with loud gagging sounds. "Deal?"

"Fuck you!"

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"You do not use that kind of language, Evelyn Alma!" Sam scolded a contrite Evelyn. She'd gotten a call from Mrs. Higgs who had called with the appalling news that her four-year-old had sworn rather foully at Peter Brown. "Where did you learn that word anyway?" Evelyn shrugged unhelpfully. She'd not exactly meant to swear like that when Peter had offered his bet and she didn't exactly want to tell her mother she'd learned it in her previous life. "Tell me, Ed! Where'd you learn the word?"

"Heard it somewhere," Evelyn sidestepped. Sam scowled at her.

"You know what this means, don't you?"

"A spanking, sent to my room to think on it, and not given any dessert?" Evelyn replied dryly. "Got it down. Besides, it's just a word. Nothing actually bad." She watched Sam's eyebrows arch before she sighed and moved to lay across the chair she typically found herself laid over when she got in trouble. Spankings didn't hurt that much in the long run.

"I'm starting to think these things are ineffective," grumbled Sam. "Five swats. And then we're going to _talk_, Missy."

The swats were on Evelyn's padded rump and not nearly hard enough to marginally match the beat downs Teacher had doled out or the spankings Trisha had given when she was Edward. She didn't make a peep, wiggle about, or try to get away. Once the pops were done, she got back up and was firmly escorted to the couch.

"You know better than to swear, Ed," Sam told her daughter. "I've taught you better."

Evelyn gave her mother a long look and then averted her eyes. "They're just words. Nothing big or major. And Hughes knew I wasn't being mean."

"I've been meaning to ask about that. Why _do_ you call him Hughes?"

Evelyn gave her mother a long look just as Brandon came through the door. "I'm home!" he called. "And it was a crazy day."

"Ed cussed at Peter," Sam told her husband. "Told him 'fuck you'." Brandon blinked and came over.

"You said _what_?" he asked, staring at his precocious princess.

"He made a bet with me and said I'd have to drink _cow juice_ if I lost it. I told him off for it because he knows I hate _milk_," Evelyn said with a pout.

"Princess," Brandon said with a definite edge of disappointment. "What kind of bet?"

"I want to take martial arts. Wanted Hughes to do the same, but he doesn't think Aunt Amy will go for it. I said I could get her to let him and he made a bet and threatened milk if I couldn't get her to."

"Martial arts?" Sam asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. Aikido, Taekwondo, Karate, whatever. Oh, and gymnastics might be good, too! Good for flexibility!"

"Eddie…?" Sam and Brandon shared a look as Brandon settled down next to the blonde-haired child. "Why do you want to take these sorts of classes?"

"Because you have to train the body before you can train the mind!" Evelyn huffed.

"Where did you learn that?"

Evelyn froze slightly. She didn't have a good answer for that. "I… thought up of it myself," she muttered weakly. She missed the shared concerned look over her head.

"Sweetheart…" Sam began slowly. "Your daddy and I've been talking." As she spoke, Winry the calico jumped up onto the couch and rubbed against the occupants. "We've talked to your teachers and some other people. And looked at some of those composition books you write in. You're not exactly… a regular kid." Evelyn definitely froze up at that, a thread of anger rolling through her at the idea of them invading her privacy. "You're smarter than that."

"Way smarter," agreed Brandon. "Some of those things I can't even begin to understand. Why are you hiding it?" Next to him, his little four-year-old trembled as the anger went out of her as she realized she needed to tell them.

"You… wanna know why I call him Hughes?" she asked quietly, worried at rejection and a bit afraid.

"Why?"

"Because… he looks like someone I knew. Once. Long time ago."

"Who?"

"Maes Hughes." Evelyn's fingers tightened on her pant legs. "He was crazy and funny… kind. Loved his family so much. And he died. He was shot by a bastard of a monster that hid behind someone else's face. He lost everything. He died and he lost everything and it was my fault." She felt Brandon rest his hand on her back to soothe her and she suddenly realized she was shaking like a leaf and crying. She had to tell them, though. "But he's Peter now. He sometimes remembers and I can't help but like him. He's still stupid and funny and willing to drop everything just to help me."

"Princess? What are you…" Brandon took a breath and drew his little girl up in his lap, disrupting the feline's bid for attentions. "Did you die, too?"

"I didn't mean to!" she cried, curling into the larger form that cradled her. "I didn't mean to! Please don't hate me!"

"Baby, we don't hate you. You're our little baby girl. We can't hate you," comforted Samantha, scooting over to sit next to Brandon and cuddle with her distraught daughter. "You remember your old life?" Gold eyes stared at the kind face just outside her father's hands and slowly the aureate child nodded, still shivering. "Who were you then?"

"Ed… Edward Elric."

Samantha stared for a moment. "You were a boy?" asked Brandon, confused. He felt her nod again. "How old were you… when you died?"

"Fifteen." Both adults choked upon hearing the whispered word.

"So young," wondered Brandon. "And how do you remember your old life?"

"How the hell should I know?" groused Evelyn, curling into that secure warmth as she wondered if her bastard father had ever done similar. "Though I am kind of a fuck up."

"Language!" scolded Sam reflexively. She was not surprised to hear the snort, but she definitely felt better when those darkened eyes lightened a bit in humor.

"What do you mean, princess?" asked Brandon.

"What _else_ would you call an arrogant idiot that nearly got their brother killed doing something utterly stupid and lost both an arm and a leg to the same accident?" growled Evelyn.

"What accident and where were your parents?" Neither adult missed the full body flinch that Evelyn did.

"Stupid… stupid fucker Hohenheim… my father left when I was three," she grumbled. "Never came back until I was fifteen. Just months before I died. Mom… she died when I was five. I couldn't save her."

"And… the accident?"

"You won't hate me, will you?" Her voice was so small, Brandon's arms tightened around her a bit more.

"No. You're still our little girl," soothed Samantha, rubbing at Evelyn's knee and patting her leg.

Slowly, Evelyn spoke, her eyes trained on that Alphonse-like face of her second life's mother. "I tried to get her back. I was so arrogant, thinking I could bring her back, but I didn't know. It took my leg. It took Al's entire body. I learned a lot from it. I learned how to do things no one save for those that commit human transmutation ever learn. But I nearly killed Al. I threw away my arm to attach his soul to a suit of armor." She coughed a sour little laugh. "Only to get a mess of partially human _something_ that didn't live very long. It wasn't her. I'm not sure sometimes if I'm happy I didn't have to watch her die twice. It still lived and it was still human, even if only for a moment."

The Dynes merely stared at their daughter, golden as the sun and so very fragile curled in Brandon's lap, and all they felt was numb shock. Sure, they'd thought perhaps that their daughter remembered fragments of another life… another life as, perhaps, a woman and a smart one from the notes they'd seen in her room. They thought that maybe their child was an ordinary person, but… what she was hinting at…

A fifteen year old boy that had died after committing some horrible act he hated himself for. One that had him afraid that others would hate him for what he did. A boy that had no family save for a brother and had once had a friend in a man named Maes Hughes who had apparently died and been reborn as Peter only to be more of a normal 'reincarnation' that had past life memories.

"You knew since you were a baby, didn't you?" Sam couldn't believe the somewhat disconnected sound of her voice, for it _was_ her voice though she didn't actually think to say it.

"Since I was born," agreed Evelyn. Sam looked at the cat that was purring near Brandon's thigh.

"Who was Winry?"

"My mechanic and my best friend since I was really little. She was my age," Evelyn told her.

"Mechanic?" wondered Brandon.

"She engineered automail… um, metal prosthetics that acted much the same as real limbs. She could act as a surgeon and knew how to hook up all the nerves and stuff. When I lost my arm and leg, she made me new ones."

"She must be really smart."

Evelyn smiled suddenly, swept into fond memories. "She was a total gear-head and loved the smell of oil and steel and she had a bad habit of throwing wrenches at me when I busted them up. At my head, usually. And she could scream like a banshee."

"What about your brother?" asked Brandon.

"Alphonse was awesome and sweet. He'd almost always beat me in a fight and was always rescuing cats. I had to make him put them back because we couldn't care for them, not that it stopped him from trying. He was like my conscience, always calming me down when I got too wild." She looked up at her parents that looked more than a little stunned. "He looks a little like you," she said quietly to Sam. "Only… more yellowish eyes and my color hair. And a boy, obviously." She craned her neck a bit and looked at Brandon. "You look a little more like how I used to, only this coloring rather than yours."

"We do?"

"Mmhm…" Evelyn hesitated. "Do you believe me?"

"It's a lot to take in just yet," Sam told her daughter. "But… you're not much for lying."

"You still gonna take my dessert?"

The innocent-contrived question made Sam laugh. "Oh, how do you do that to me, Ed?" She paused, her eyes widening. "Ed… Peter knew it was you, didn't he?"

"Yeah, the ass knew," Evelyn said with a crooked smile. "I think he was immediately reincarnated, too, because he died a few months before I did and he was born a few months before me. Kinda funny, really, as he was, like… thirty."

"What kind of woman was your other mother?" asked Samantha, suddenly a little wary eyed. Evelyn considered it.

"Kind, tough sometimes. She'd get mad when Al and I would mess up the house and she hit a lot harder than you when she spanked us. Most of the time, she didn't have to because we preferred her happy and knew how to keep her smiling. Had to after that bastard left. Thing was… I looked too much like him and when… when I did the same things he did, she'd smile so brightly and call me her little man." Evelyn frowned and looked at her lap. "I hated that. Because I knew the moment we were out of sight, she would cry."

"Why did your father leave?" asked Brandon.

"I don't know. He just left one morning after putting up a swing for us the day before. I don't know why, but I'm pretty certain he didn't give a shit because he didn't come back after she died. Al keeps thinking that he's got some hope. That he'll turn up out of the blue and we'll all be some happy family again." She snorted. "That was the biggest damn joke ever. Hohenheim didn't care to come back. And when he turned up one day, all he did was lecture me a bit before vanishing again. Asswipe."

"What did he lecture you on?" Sam asked, curious.

Evelyn gave her a long look. "If he'd've been there, we wouldn't have tried to resurrect our mother. _If_ he had been there, perhaps she wouldn't have even died. After we screwed up, I decided to take a path that might fix our bodies again. I had to for Al if nothing else. When we started on that path, I burnt the house down we used to live in as a kind of symbol. That bastard had the nerve to say I was running away from my problems after he'd run away himself. Bullshit." She snarled. "He had no right. It was our house, not his. He'd not been there for over a decade, so why did it matter?"

"I… have a feeling you have an even more complex past than we could have hoped for," Brandon mused.

"Wait, how did you try to resurrect your mother? You haven't told us," interrupted Sam.

Gold eyes looked at the two adults before their little golden child spoke a single word that further shook their world. "Alchemy."

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Sam and Brandon didn't know what to think, honestly. They'd just found out their daughter used to be some teenage boy that had practiced alchemy. _Alchemy_. Sam knew a little about the mythical subject as she'd read the 'Harry Potter' series, but that only extended to 'lead into gold' and 'immortality through the Philosopher's Stone'. From the sound of it, Evelyn was capable of far more than those two things. When asked about the Stone, the girl had growled inarticulately before springing free and saying something how it was a disgusting thing that shouldn't exist in the first place. She'd run to her room and shut the door and nothing Brandon nor Samantha could do to get her to open it.

"Your mom was right," Brandon told his wife.

"Yeah, she was," Sam mused, leaning against the counter in the kitchen. "But I don't think she could have predicted even _this_."

"_We_ didn't either. Our daughter is a reincarnation of an alchemist. That's pretty big."

"I'd like to see her use it, though. Do you think she can?"

"I don't know." Brandon considered it a bit before he frowned. "What bothers me is how Edward was familiar with a man twice his age. And what path did he choose to take in order to regain their bodies?"

"And what made him so against the Philosopher's Stone?" added Sam. "She's totally against it." She thought a bit more. "Perhaps we should leave it alone for right now. I'd love to know more, but I don't want to alienate our own daughter by being overly nosy."

"True enough," Brandon agreed. "I'm still having trouble digesting it. At least with all the evidence, I can guess that our little scientist is telling the truth. There's no way a kid can come up with such a cohesive 'out there' story like that, even if she just drabbled it out."

"She named her favorite toy after her brother who is a cat lover," chuckled Sam, thinking about the stuffed animal Evelyn normally slept with. "Even though she was a fifteen year old with apparently very adult attitudes and a foul mouth, she's still a little girl."

"You're still going to have to explain certain things to her when she gets older," Brandon mused. "I get the feeling she doesn't know about all the feminine things yet."

"Most boys never do," retorted Sam lightly. "They hear the words 'menstrual cycle' and immediately shut down." She laughed a bit as her husband grinned impishly at her before sobering. "I'm a bit bothered by her dislike of her first father, though. Not surprised, but a bit bothered."

"He sounds like a bastard to me, leaving his wife and kids to go gallivanting off into the sunset. I don't expect that we know the full story because I sincerely doubt Edward's mother told him when he was that small." Sam nodded slightly. "Then again, she might not have known either. All Ed saw was her… _his_ mother crying." Brandon shook his head. "That's going to leave us a headache."

"I know. I wonder if anyone's ever encountered this before?"

"Like hell I'm going to find out. Last thing we need is for someone to declare Ed insane and throw her in a padded room or medicate her. She's a spitfire, but she's not dangerous."

"That we know of. She wants to take classes on how to fight, if you remember."

"Do you think we should let her?"

"I think so," mused Sam. "That thing she said… 'To train the mind, you must train the body first'? It sounded like a creed. Ed must have done it before. And we both know she knows how to punch and kick. Perhaps she wants to get into a class that will allow her the exercise and not be as obvious about it?"

Brandon cringed. "Yeah, she definitely knows how to throw a punch, but she's always been careful who she lashes out at. And I get this feeling she knows exactly how hard to hit, too."

"We could cut a deal," Samantha offered. "If we let you do this, we expect something in return? She might still have enough adult mentality to accept that."

"Equivalent Exchange!" chirped the little girl's voice and they turned to see their daughter standing there with a glint in her eyes. "I can do that."

"Equivalent exchange?" wondered Brandon, though he was relived she was out of her room.

"Well, of course," the diminutive blonde replied, coming into the kitchen properly. "One of the laws of alchemy… Well, of most anything, really. To gain something of value, something of equal value must be lost. It interconnects with the two major Laws. Conservation of Mass and Conservation of Energy. Can't create nor destroy, only change what's there. So, you'll let me have my lessons? What's the price?" The grin on her face was bright and her eyes were eager. Her parents exchanged a glance before Brandon gestured slightly to Sam.

"This is your show," he muttered.

"Chicken," Sam teased before returning her gaze to Evelyn. "Well, we can let you have the lessons so long as you don't use them against anyone. Martial arts are designed to be both defensive and offensive and the higher levels can kill."

"Oh, please, that'd be easy," Evelyn said with a roll of her eyes. "Besides, I don't care about killing people. That's just stupid. It's for the exercise and maybe learning some new stuff. I already know how to fight."

"Told you," Brandon remarked. Evelyn quirked an eyebrow at her father and he smirked. She rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"I learned some about fighting when me and Al would tie up," Evelyn told him. "And more when we met Teacher. After that, it was a matter of adapting what I was taught to how I could best fight. Which is the reason I asked about gymnastics, too."

"Did you get in a lot of fights?" asked Samantha, confused. She was somehow not surprised when Evelyn colored.

"Um… yes? But that was because I… um… got into situations that um… required it?" She gave them a little nervous grin and ducked her head a bit. "Not intentionally, but… yeah."

"This is making me feel loads better," grumbled Brandon.

"What kind of situations, Ed?"

"Um, well…" Evelyn twiddled her fingers together. "There was this time that my license was stolen and I had to chase this girl through this town called Rush Valley and we kinda wrecked a stretch of the city. But I fixed that back."

"What are some others?"

"Same town, different day, got my automail arm busted by this crazy chick with bombs and throwing knives while her leech of a prince ate a hole in my wallet. Al had to fight her grandfather and got that thief chick to use her mini missile on him."

"A missile?!"

"Yes?"

"Is this going to be like pulling teeth?" Brandon wondered.

"Another, Evelyn," demanded Samantha, slowly growing more horrified.

"Couple times fighting this serial killer that could blow a person up just by touching him."

"_What_?!"

"I didn't instigate that one!" Evelyn swore, holding up her hands. "He was after State Alchemists and I wasn't the only one targeted by him!"

"What the hell is a State Alchemist?" demanded Brandon, latching onto that phrase.

There was a long, drawn out moment where Evelyn didn't immediately answer. "A State Alchemist," she said quietly and a little shame-faced, "is a special division of alchemists that have a lot of talent for combat-style situations or useful research that the Military State of Amestris controls. It's a military division. I was an honorary Major."

"You were in the military at fifteen years old?" gaped Sam. "What kind of country would do that?"

Evelyn shrugged slightly, not wanting to go into details. "Thing is, Mom… I didn't enlist at fifteen. The accident happened when I was eleven and it took a year to get on my feet again. Immediately after that, I joined the military."

"Twelve…?" The horror was obvious in the single word. "_Twelve_? Fifteen's reasonable in comparison!"

"They wanted my talent that bad. And I needed the access," she smiled sadly.

"What 'talent' could possibly make you that valuable?" Brandon asked.

"Most people require precise arrays to do alchemy." Evelyn walked over to the phone and picked up the pad and pen next to it. She drew a simple four element array and held it up. "Simple as this to very, very complex. I don't need this." She set down the pad and pen again on the counter before turning back to her horrified parents. "I heard you wanted to see my alchemy," she told them. "This is alchemy."

She snapped her hands together, ran the equation through her head, and dropped to the tile. She could put it back later. As her hands hit the slate, she focused on what she wanted. Her parents gaped as lightning arced about her and the floor began to reform.

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Three hours later, Samantha and Brandon Dyne were still staring at the thing their daughter made out of the floor. It wasn't a very tall thing, but they could see that the tile, quickset, and concrete slab had been completely reformed into a statuette. A foot or so high, the image of a young teen in what Samantha had dubbed a 'Peter Pan stance' was looking back at them with a smirk and his hands on his hips. Evelyn had gotten bored and had wandered off after promising to put it back when requested, but the Dynes were definitely staring at the evidence of their child being something far beyond what they had ever expected.

Evelyn said it was a scale model of what she used to look like. Her parents were kind of astonished at that. Even though there was no color, they could definitely see the similarities. And they saw the longish hair on the boy and the detail of the right exposed arm emulating the automail Evelyn said she'd had, and the tough look overall. Evelyn had made the statue without her signature coat or even the short jacket, though she did transmute the gloves.

She did admit with a heated blush that she'd been less than one hundred and fifty centimeters tall at her death before informing them hotly that it was due to the automail. It had not helped when Sam had wryly pointed out that it might have something to do with her lack of drinking milk, too. That had been why Evelyn had left in a huff, muttering she was not that short and she would be taller this time around.

"This is incredible," muttered Brandon, still staring at his warped kitchen floor.

"You've said that at least fifteen times," Sam reminded him.

"I'll say it again. Our daughter's… incredible. This is incredible!"

"She's something else, all right," agreed Sam. "I'm just in shock that she was _military_. I can't even imagine what she was thinking when she did that."

"I can. She wanted to save her brother. She said she'd saved him from death by attaching his soul to a suit of armor and that she wanted to fix him back."

"That's what bothers me," Sam replied, looking at him. "I'm afraid she's going to want to go back."

"You think she does?"

"It's obvious. The way she spoke, she loves him very much. She gave up her arm to save her brother. That tells me a lot, Bran. That speaks of a dedication that most children don't even begin to understand. And she did it when she was a 'he' and eleven. I don't want to lose my baby."

"She's not precisely 'ours', now is she?"

"Are you so sure? I mean, the both of you helped me through my miscarriage so much. She was the primary reason I didn't completely shut down. Not because she needed me but because she made me smile so much."

"I think she did that on purpose."

"I think you're right," she muttered, hugging herself. "If she remembers being a baby…" She shuddered and felt Brandon's arm loop around her shoulders. Staring at the statue merged with the floor, Samantha couldn't help but feel a thread of fear. "What are we going to do?"

"We just keep going forward… and make sure Evelyn knows that we love her and that we're still her parents even if we weren't her first ones."

.

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Author's Note: Before anyone flips and freaks about the idea of Edward Elric accepting the concept of magic and getting some cool powers beyond his kickass alchemy, hold your horses. There will be no fireballs, no floating pencils, none of it. Only stuff that can augment alchemy (look at those circles and tell me how that doesn't look like ritualistic witchcraft!) and minor mental stuff that I know for fact and certainty as I and someone I trust implicitly have experienced some of the things I'll mention. It will remain ephemeral for the most part and sort of a mild add on. The biggest thing (other than _one_ minor thing) will actually be the energy sensing and it won't be exactly like the Xingese qi sense.

**Please review. I appreciate feedback.**


	3. III

**Aureate Bonds**

**Summary:** Inside Gluttony, Edward took a gamble to get him, Ling, & Envy out of the unending dark. He used some of Envy's Stone & opened the Gate. But the equation turned out unbalanced & Ed... died. Yet Ed isn't the sort to be beaten easily & he swore he'd be back.

**Ratings and Warnings:** Rated "M" for sake of expediency and my typical writing style. Intermittent foul and 'descriptive' language, a bit of sarcasm, gender bending (Fem!Edward), etc.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own FMA or any other referenced materials, plain and simple. All non-original content is owned by all respective copyright owners. This is not being produced for money but rather for my own amusement.

**Chapter Relevant References:** Various Disney, Star Wars, Alien and Predator, Marvel Comics

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**Reviews:** Thanks to AllNoIsImNotAwesome for both review and follow (Yay! My first follow!). Also thanks to 'Guest'… I shall now dub thee 'Missing Link' because of what you said in your review... and to Le Confidant and Otakuzen for your reviews and follows.

There were a couple interesting points brought up by both Missing Link and by Le Confidant. First, to Missing Link. I'm actually in total agreement with you about alchemy being science up to a point. First and foremost, the 'Fullmetal Alchemist' variety is heavily reliant on symbols of mystical nature. If you take a gander, for instance, at Kimblee's circles on his hands, you'll notice that one hand has the symbol of 'sun' paired with 'fire', which is an upwards pointing equilateral triangle. To make the matter more interesting, the up-pointing triangle can also be used as a symbol of masculinity and the sun is a masculine symbol in and of itself. On his other hand is a very feminine setup between 'moon' and 'water', symbolized by the downwards pointing vessel like triangle that also denotes femininity. Putting the two directly different circles together permits him to create explosions. As a result, I loosely think of as 'alchemy' as a science-based magic. A magic governed by the 'real world' and what is possible within said 'real world'. Like you said about 'alchemy being capable of putting the white and yolk back in the egg after it's broken'. That would fall in the realm of both science and magic because science says it's possible and blending it with magic _makes_ it possible. And they do atomic fusion and fission (gold from lead and in reverse) with nothing more than a circle, which, again pointed out, is something technically impossible on an everyday level.

As for Le Confidant… They aren't actually that accepting. They've just been _completely_ overwhelmed. Imagine, your child just dumped a shit ton of information on you that seems incredible (and by 'incredible' I mean the real definition of 'not creditable-slash-believable') and capable of rationalizing like an _adult_ at four. All they saw was their freaked out daughter and instinctively worked to comfort her. The whole bartering thing was more of a test than anything. If I had my kid come and say those sorts of things, I'd actually be pretty cool with it depending on who they used to be. I'd be worried, don't get me wrong, and I'd certainly not forget it but I'm the sort of person that believes very much in reincarnation and the like. To this level is something unheard of for the most part, in my opinion, but I'd probably question closely and then let it go unless my kid brought it up again rather pointedly. And, of course, it'd be unbelievably hard to accept and deal with, but... well, my response would be similar to that which you see in the story.

Oh, and one other thing… hilarity is sort of intermittent because there's quite a lot of development that I'll have to more or less gloss over.

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Happy Thanksgiving to those whom celebrate!

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**III:**

It had not been a particularly easy time after Evelyn had come out to her parents. They were kind enough about it and they tried to be understanding, but she knew she had disturbed them. In fact, it quickly became apparent to her that they sort of shelved the whole incident and looked the other direction. Sam, of course, asked questions and wanted to know more but Brandon just pretended that she was still his little princess. Well, she _was_ but if she slipped and started talking about high level physics or something, he kind of balked and just stared or even walked out of the room. Neither asked for more alchemy demonstrations and perhaps that was for the best. It was actually kind of disappointing how stiff things got for a while and despite her previous life, she was just a child with childish emotions. It hurt to see her dad not handle things very well and react oddly to her.

They had agreed to the lessons and she'd gone to Aunt Amy to persuade the woman into letting Peter join up, too. Much to her relief, she didn't have to drink milk because Amelia agreed as it _was_ good exercise and useful for self-defense. Peter had sulked about that before Evelyn exacted her revenge on him. Afterwards, Peter no longer could look at a tutu again without shuddering and wanting to run as fast as he could, especially if his friend began giggling evilly. Being put into a ballerina outfit hadn't been too terrible up until Evelyn had taken pictures, stashed copies everywhere she could, and made him parade in it for a whole day in public knowing full well their classmates would possibly see and remember for years to come.

Peter quietly swore to himself never to offer milk as a bet punishment again. He then swore even more firmly on that idea after Evelyn promised to alchemize him to a tree in the middle of the playground buck naked if he offered such a vile bet again.

No one could ever deny that Edward Elric, and thus Evelyn Dyne, had a vicious streak that was very creative. Unfortunately, her evil cackle left much to be desired and giggling was not particularly evil sounding when it came from a little girl's throat. Again, Evelyn wished to grow up faster but this time for need of a better evil cackle. In the meantime, she wound up practicing said cackle in the privacy of her own room and even if she still sounded a little too brightly happy instead of darkly delighted, she became very proud of the results.

Of course, with her sort of luck she'd be caught trying to improve her diabolical laughter.

"What are you doing?" Blinking, Evelyn turned to her father standing in the doorway of her room. "Are you all right?"

"Um, yeah... Just working on my evil laugh," she admitted sheepishly as she shuffled her feet before her little dressing stand that Sam had gotten her last Christmas. She watched as Brandon gave her a bewildered look.

"Why… do you need an evil laugh?" he asked warily.

"Because it scares Hughes without having to touch him?" the little girl offered with bright and almost-innocent eyes. Her statement was met with a snort of disbelief. Yellow eyes watched as the man entered the room more fully and sat on the floor next to her.

"You're practicing an evil laugh so that you can scare your friend," the homicide detective said slowly. "That's ridiculous." There were any number of things she could say to that.

"Well, isn't it better than cussing at him?" she mused, blinking at him before taking the stuffed cat she had deemed 'Al' from the chair before the stand and plopped down on the floor before him. That had been one of the things her parents had insisted on especially. Not swearing in public.

"Princess…" he sighed. "You did kind of go overboard for punishing him, you know."

"I refuse to drink _milk_ and he should have remembered that," pouted the blonde.

"You did drink milk when you were a baby."

"Under duress." Brandon stared at her, again befuddled by her intelligence, and she sighed and dropped her gaze. "Sorry."

"This is hard, Ed," he told her and watched her clutch Al closer as she curled in defensively on herself. "Come here." Obediently yet shyly, Evelyn scooted forward only to be gathered up in his lap and hugged tight. She felt him petting at her hair and tuck her head under his chin. "I don't even know what to think or to say."

"Just… treat me like normal," the former teen pled. "I liked it." Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Sam had appeared in the doorway and was watching them. Brandon remained silent for a long while and Evelyn felt like she had to fill it up because it felt uncomfortable. "Dad… you're… I've never had this. Maybe I could have if… but it didn't happen." She felt his arms tighten about her and watched as Sam came forward with shining eyes. Squeezing her own eyes shut, she soon felt her mother's comforting hand on her back. "Please… don't hate me."

"We don't hate you, sweetie," soothed Sam. "But we're just as lost as you are."

"Hate's not something easily maintained," mused Brandon, his voice rumbling pleasantly in his chest as he tucked her more securely into his arms and against him. "Actually, hate's pretty impossible as far as we're concerned. Besides, you kept your mom from falling into too deep of a depression after…" After the miscarriage. It didn't have to be said. Brandon had been too afraid to allow his wife to continue trying to bear another child at risk of her health… physical, mental, and emotional. Evelyn personally had thought such a decision not very fair but Sam had agreed to not trying again, too, and neither had looked into adoption as far as she knew.

Said woman sat with a small thump onto the floor, too, and before Evelyn knew it she'd been transferred to the other parent. Curling into that warmth and knowing exactly how precious and fragile it was, she found herself contemplating the words the two parents had spoken.

"So… what now?" she asked after a moment of thought.

"Now… I'd say we ought to watch a movie. Something light hearted," mused Sam. Brandon snorted.

"Something Disney, I'm guessing?" the man joked and Evelyn didn't even have to see Sam's face to see her scowl. Samantha had a passion for Disney, after all.

"Well, it _is_ light hearted," she told her husband before nudging at the pile of golden child in her lap. "What do you say, Ed? Something fun?"

Blinking up at her mother, Evelyn contemplated the options before nodding. "Um… How about something like Iron Man?" In that moment, Brandon Dyne grinned and Samantha Dyne rolled her eyes.

"Hey, it's Disney," defended the lone male in the family.

"Yes, I know," drawled Sam. "I was thinking more like Aladdin or Tangled or Peter Pan."

"I don't wanna watch Rappy-uncle again," pouted Evelyn only to make her father laugh and her mother scowl in mock-offense. "We saw that last week."

"That's Rapunzel," corrected the woman.

"I like her version better."

"_You_ would."

And as they lightly 'fought', Evelyn listened and wondered when the next blowup might occur between them. Surprisingly enough, her parents had actually come around a bit thanks to that conversation and somehow, even though she realized they were again sidelining the issues, everything was just fine. When the gave attention to her, she always hugged them back earnestly, knowing full and well how lucky she was to have both of her parents while missing her former life's mother each time. She worked to commit each thing she did with them to memory from the feel of being hugged and kissed to the sensation of sleeping in between them when she didn't want to be by herself in her room at night. Even if she'd been a teenage boy (and supposedly had outgrown such things thanks to foolish macho-ism) in her past life, because of her trials as Edward and her own ultimately childlike state she knew _exactly_ how precious those kinds of things were. Eventually, she'd be robbed of them because she was determined to go back, but until then she refused to let a moment waste away. Slowly, the confusion that had appeared was at least allayed for a while and they became closer again. She didn't behave any differently for the most part, convincing them that they'd known their daughter all along.

Of course, thanks to her coming out to them, she wound up gaining more stringent rules over her and punishments were kept up. In addition to her normal rules, she'd been advised that she was _not_ permitted to swear around other people, that she was not allowed to destroy the house with alchemy (that was an old rule reborn, really), and that if she was to use alchemy she had to be incredibly careful. With the day and age it was, cameras were everywhere and it was easy to be caught by them. It took some bit of explaining, but when Evelyn got it she definitely agreed.

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At eight years old, Evelyn was in the third grade. She knew she could have advanced far beyond third grade and even could have graduated already, but she chose not to. One reason was because she had no interest in attracting undue attention. The other was because she didn't want to outdistance Peter and leave him behind. He _was_ her friend. Even though she did exactly what she needed to at school, she didn't stop from studying ahead and learning everything she could. Eight years old and she was already very close to her first black belt in karate. Eight years old and she was studying three extra languages in the form of German, Chinese, and Spanish. Eight years old and she was delving into some of the mystic stuff that might help with her circle to go back to Amestris.

And wasn't that a mind-blowing event? Edward Elric had begun to learn about _magic_. Everything in her screamed 'foul' at the idea but some of the research she had done at six years old led her into learning more about alchemy had led her down a mystic path and, as she learned more, the more she realized that in this world maybe alchemy had become filed under 'magic' thanks to the things it could do. It was then that she dug out the card that Alethea had given her at four and presented it to her parents.

"What's this?" It had been a logical first question from her father at her 'tender age' of six.

"My research kind of… led me to thinking perhaps that magic might be a viable tool."

"Magic?" Brandon asked, looking at her in surprise. Their little princess scientist was suddenly thinking magic was real? She nodded and fidgeted. "And where'd you get this card?"

"Well, the lady on the card… Alethea? Well, she was in the library one day while I was still in preschool and she caught me reading science books and complaining about having to maybe look at magic books. I dismissed it at the time, but… Problem is… the more I've looked around, the more I've realized that a lot of alchemy is tied into mystical stuff so I thought…"

"Why did you bring this to me?"

"You were home first?" The adult snorted at her cautious yet smart aleck remark. Yes, he'd been home first because he'd had to take off work early due to a doctor's appointment and the only reason Evelyn had been at home was because the school bus had dropped her off mere minutes before he'd gotten to the house. Fortunately, they had an elderly neighbor that the golden-haired child often went to during the evenings to both help the older woman and to allow herself to be watched after. The moment Evelyn had seen her father's car pull in the drive she'd bounded back next door. "I really wanna go and see if there's something I could learn!"

"Princess… Granted, your alchemy looks like magic to me but didn't you say that it's science first and foremost?"

"It _is_, but when broken down most equations follow a lot of magical references I saw online. Maybe someone had thought alchemy here was merely magic and as people grew more scientific, they started forgetting that alchemy _wasn't_ magic. I don't know because there's nothing out there that I've read to confirm it. Please, Dad! I wanna go!" Brandon was immediately hit with the soulful look of his child begging rather well all considered and he grunted.

"We'll have to talk this over with your Mom first, alright?" he told her. "Really, she's the fantasy buff."

"I thought you were, too," pouted Evelyn, dropping her puppy dog eyes.

"So… what are you going to be doing with this?" he asked, looking at the card again and then saw his daughter gain a shifty look. She really did horribly at lying. "Evelyn?" pressed her father. "What would you be doing if we let you learn magic?"

"Um… not so much magic as stuff that could help my alchemy and maybe learn that weird sensing trick that some people I knew could do," she offered.

"Sensing trick?"

"Like, um… being able to sense if there's people nearby by their energy?"

"Are you telling me you want to learn how to sense people through the _Force_?" gaped Brandon. "That's science fiction!"

"No it isn't! I've seen Ling and his bodyguards do it! I wanna learn, too!"

It was unsurprising that Brandon kind of just _stared_ at her like he wasn't sure what to think. So, like a 'good husband', he decided he'd let his wife handle it. Samantha, when she got home, wasn't exactly appreciative once she learned of the situation.

"You want to what?" she asked her daughter.

"Go to this magic store."

"And _why_ do you want to go to the store?"

"To see if there's any good books to use for helping me learn alchemy and stuff. And there's some other things I'd like to learn, too." Brandon sat quietly by as Sam palmed her face, trying to figure out whether or not her reality had just gotten jarred again. Her daughter, whom had been _adamant_ that alchemy was not magic, wanted to go to a magic store in order to assist in learning alchemy.

Having never been to a magic shop left Sam interested, of course. She had always enjoyed fairy tales and the like, reading them to her daughter when she was smaller and encouraging the watching of movies with magic. Magic was equated to wonder and Sam felt that the world required wonder to be special. Just because one knew how a rainbow was made through science didn't mean that one couldn't appreciate the magic in it, too. Her husband, more of a science fiction nerd, was not as enthused about magic. That was fine because she liked science fiction, too. Well, within reason. She did not appreciate her husband's love of the Alien and Predator movies.

"I suppose we could go check it out," she acquiesced.

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The trip had actually been interesting and informative. Despite being two years later, Alethea Gates still worked at the still open shop. She hadn't immediately recognized the six year old but Evelyn certainly recognized her and proceeded to grill the woman for information. While Brandon fidgeted and hovered well away from where the incense was particularly potent, Sam browsed the shelves. All the while, Evelyn's piping voice could be heard as she and Alethea discussed what exactly would be best for someone that wanted to learn about the subject.

Alethea's opinion had been to suggest a few different texts. The cost of the books was staggering, of course, but when the young woman offered to give her a few books from her own collection if they came back the next weekend, Sam had been caught somewhere between grateful and surprised.

It turned out the books she offered covered some of the history of both Wiccan and Druidic practices in the form of two different books and a book over meditation. She told the interested mother about the reasoning behind the books so that, as a parent, Sam could at least understand the logic. Samantha was appreciative and went along with the suggestion of buying a simple white candle to help with learning how to meditate. Evelyn's mother was worried about the possibilities of open flame near all kinds of potentially flammable things despite her child's reassurances she'd not do anything particularly stupid. It didn't exactly make her parents more comfortable with the idea of their baby learning magic when Alethea commended them on being open minded.

Come to find out, the two adults weren't happy at all with their strong willed daughter's new interest. They read her books, tried to understand what she was getting into, and had some very long talks with the reincarnated alchemist about what she was reading because other books were eventually bought once Evelyn had more or less memorized the history books and returned them to Alethea. Samantha wasn't one for mysticism outside her comfort zone of stories where the supernatural was neatly tucked away when those stories were shelved. She also had her own range of superstitions that were both practical and odd. Ouija boards, for instance, would never be touched by the woman. Alethea, Evelyn discovered, was much of the same opinion as far as the alchemist's safety was concerned. The boards were signals to anything and everything and there was no telling what you'd get if you weren't well practiced or had a damn fine affiliation to the method of speaking to spirits and ghosts. Luckily, Evelyn had no interest in talking to the dead. She wanted to learn about channeling energies and various symbols. Those things posed their own sorts of trials and tribulations, of course.

By the time that Evelyn _had_ reached eight, she had discovered a sort of sensitivity towards people and objects. It was actually odd to be able to pick up the sense of how a person felt about an object they owned. Whether there was a sense of 'mine' or actual emotional value attached… Once, she'd found a leather jacket her father had worn to some crime scene that had affected him deeply. He had, apparently, come to associate that jacket with that event and the pain of that day and just never wore it again. The disgust painted on it in a psychic sense literally made her skin crawl. It seemed to writhe in her hands and reject her touch. She damn well rejected it. Shoving it into a back corner of the closet she'd found it in, Evelyn resolved to not touch it again unless she knew how to deal with it.

And that didn't even begin to cover the people. Sensing energy was remarkable, really, and Evelyn started being able to almost 'see' the energy produced by a person without touching them. It took concentration, hours of work, and was really useless for the most part. But it started to develop like some kind of supernatural muscle and the child was thrilled. Finally, she could sense like that leech and his bodyguards! Granted, it wasn't spectacular or even very large but she had hopes to train it out further.

The meditation had its own uses and had been the true starting point for the other stuff. By using it, she had better recall and better energy flow. The candle, which was placed very carefully in a spot where there would be no flammable objects nearby, was an immense help so that she had a focus and fed extraneous thoughts into.

And still, Brandon and Samantha worried. Talking with them allowed Evelyn to understand why and she honestly could say she didn't blame them one bit. After all, if it had been _her_ kid studying obsessively for some unknown reason… They were afraid of losing her, honestly, and did everything they could to keep her close. There were family trips to amusement parks, out camping, to educational places like museums and the like, and lots and lots of movies. It let her have her chance to wonder and be excited to learn and do things with the adults and most of the time the trio was accompanied by Amelia and Peter.

Yet, still she learned. She spent a lot of time each day learning something new. It was like a compulsion and Evelyn made sure to code her notes so that her parents weren't able to be as nosy. Sure, they didn't have to look at her journals to know what she studied but at least it kept them from potentially tampering with her work or understanding all her notations quite as easily. It wasn't fair of her to distrust them but they had threatened punishment in the form of not allowing her to continue whatever she was doing. Perhaps it was beginning to dawn on them why she was so furiously digging for more and more but she didn't confront them over it. They'd have to do it themselves.

Eventually, she progressed to simple 'spells' which were more about conditioning mental attitudes than anything else. Carrying a stone in her pocket was helpful, too. Using it as a form of a negative energy repository that she could purge out at a later date, the Tiger's Eye was kind of a friend to her. It was comforting, which was odd considering it was a _stone_. And it amused her that Peter, who had no interest in learning magic alongside her, had no interest whatsoever in her rock. It was _hers_ and, while many of the things she had he'd take to joke about, the first time he laid fingers on the stone to examine it and maybe filch it he'd given it right back and had not shown a whit of curiosity afterwards in it.

Energy manipulation was useful but, then again, as an alchemist she'd been manipulating energy for _years_.

All the studying had given remarkable results so far even if it wasn't flashy or out there. By far, the best technique she'd picked up was meditation and it had made all her studying so much easier. She had eventually broached certain techniques that opened the chakras (boy, had that day been an eye-opener), not to mention continued learning about the sensing techniques that Ling and his cohort had shown off. In the middle of it all, she found information about enhancing physical abilities with energy manipulation. It was all very Eastern in method of thought process but it had to be viable in her opinion. Then again, was it really all that surprising that she'd accept it? If she could sense energy in others and open her chakras, then why couldn't she also up her physical capabilities? It didn't mean she'd be able to leap over a building in a single bound but it could help keep her on her feet in a fight.

Alethea realized quickly that Evelyn was somewhat dangerous in her pursuit of knowledge. Hell, anyone that had known Edward had realized the alchemist had an insatiable desire to learn more and more. The golden haired child had eventually let her in on the secret that she was more interested in general learning than magic itself. Manipulating your internal abilities was one thing and with her disciplines increasing with martial arts as she branched from karate to Aikido and into Tai Chi, though she didn't have any high belts in those two newer disciplines yet, she definitely had an iron will when it came to getting in too deep. She'd long ago learned the lesson of biting off more than one could chew.

It didn't stop her from doing it, though. She just did it more carefully.

On the martial arts front, Peter was having a blast. He was keeping up with Evelyn in terms of skill and the two practiced and sparred often outside of class. The first time they had fought, they had gotten into loads of trouble as they'd been going at it, but after proving they weren't out to break bones and they knew when to call it quits, the three parents had reluctantly let them have free reign. By now, Evelyn felt that she was back up to where she might have been when she had been Edward at the end of his training under Teacher. It was perhaps slower going than she really wanted, but she'd take what she could. After all, what Teacher did to Edward and Alphonse had been more in line of child abuse even if she did it for their own good.

And every time she thought about Izumi Curtis, she shuddered reflexively. Years after seeing the dreadfully frightening woman still managed to inspire fear.

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As time progressed and she reached nine during the middle of February, it was becoming increasingly evident to Evelyn that something was different from before. She was retaining body fat. Edward hadn't been fat in the least bit, nor was Evelyn fat now, but it was growing more and more apparent to her that Edward might have been suffering from malnutrition. Her former life had no fat reserves whatsoever and while that made for an impressive physique, it was also worrisome because there was no way with as much as he ate that he shouldn't have had some mild retention even with Al's body siphoning off what it could. Perhaps it was because she had yet to reach eleven, but somehow the lack of needing to eat more was disturbing to her. It meant in her mind that perhaps Alphonse's body was starving. That perhaps she had already lost everything. Maybe she hadn't, but she didn't know yet. With their souls intertwined and with Edward feeding his brother's life through his own form, Evelyn was terrified that she'd somehow messed up and had cut Alphonse off. Guiltily, some part of her rejoiced in the idea of getting taller thanks to the lack of drain on her system but she kept it tamped down as well as she could. The idea of losing her brother was far more terrifying than not gaining a few centimeters of height.

Naturally, it was during this time that her parents eventually gathered up courage enough to approach her over her plans and her intentions towards studying and the like. So one day, Evelyn found herself sitting on the couch with Winry in her lap as she looked at her parents.

"You're planning on going back somehow, aren't you?" asked Sam with absolutely no preamble, her concern evident as daylight.

"I am," admitted Evelyn. There was no point in denying it.

"Even though you aren't the same person anymore?" pressed Brandon, his honey colored eyes worried.

"I might be a girl, but I'm exactly the same otherwise," whispered the alchemist as she scratched at Winry's ears, encouraging the feline to purr louder.

"Is that why you're learning magic?" asked her father.

Evelyn frowned slightly as she mulled over what she had learned and still needed to learn. "Somewhat. My circle… It's not good enough. I need it to take me right where I need to be and when I need to be. I have to get back at the moment I left because if I don't…" She hunched her shoulders. "Al's all by himself. I'm his only family."

"You're our daughter," Sam told her, her eyes filled with emotion as she knotted her hands together before her. "You're _our_ family, too."

"I know!" Evelyn told her parents, looking up at them in distress. Al potentially dying because of her death wasn't the only thing that had her worked up as of late. "I _know_ that. I _know_ what'll happen the moment I leave! I _know_ I'll be robbing you of your only kid by doing this! I know!" She gritted her teeth and averted her eyes again. "But you don't _understand_. Al… Fuck… Al's probably scared and alone and I don't want him to think that I've abandoned him! He's my _brother_. And he's not the only one I'd let down!"

"What do you mean?" asked Brandon, touching Sam's arm to keep her tongue still. She looked at him, mildly offended, as Evelyn spoke again.

"There's Winry and Granny and Ling. There's Lan Fan, who cut her own damn arm off to protect her stupid prince, and Ross who got blamed for Hughes's murder. There's Hughes's _wife_, and Elicia, his _daughter_. There's Teacher and Sig and Mason. There's Mustang and his lackeys. Not to mention every damn person in between! The homunculi… they're trying to do something really bad and they caused the war in Ishval for some reason and I have to get it out that these assholes are covering it up! Something bad is coming and I need to get back! Back right where I was because if I _don't_, then I'll do so much more harm than just leaving Al alone to think I'm _dead_." She paused, considering those words. "Permanently dead, that is. I'd not be able to not tell him about what happened to me."

"That's too much for a kid to bear," Brandon told her, his fingers still resting on Sam's arm.

"But I have to or else no one will find out and more people will die! I _refuse_ to let Hughes become a fucking statistic! He died because he was helping us! Don't think I haven't questioned him. He can't remember that much. But he did remember seeing Ross turn into Mrs. Hughes before the trigger was pulled on him!"

"He remembers…?" gasped Sam, pressing a hand to her mouth.

"Not anymore. He forgot years ago," Evelyn said quickly, wanting to reassure them. It hadn't been a pleasant idea to think that Peter retained enough memories… The past still leaked through, evidenced by his natural wariness around firearms, and that was painful enough. "He's not as much Hughes as Peter-who-acts-like-Hughes now," the golden blonde sighed. "I have no idea how I managed to come away intact, so to speak." She snorted.

"What?"

"Just… remembering how I died. It wasn't all that bad in the long run. Not nearly as painful as it was upsetting." She huffed a sigh. "I know you don't like it, but it's just the way it is. Everything I am… It's still tied to the purpose of trying to fix what I did wrong and fixing what I can of that country. People… people like Hughes and Mustang and Hawkeye… They were out there in Ishval, ordered to kill. I know that Mustang did because he admitted to it right after we nearly died by Scar's hand." Yellow agate-hard eyes looked up at the two adults. "That guy's a right bastard of a Colonel… But he's not evil. What he did was bad, but he's not evil."

"Who was Mustang?" Yellow colored eyes flicked up at her parents, their owner frowning slightly as she considered the reply. Once she came to a decision on how best to phrase it, she opened her mouth to give her answer.

"Colonel Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist… and my commanding officer."

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Why was it that every time her past life was brought up it caused issues? Again, her parents pretty much shut down on her and pretended that nothing was wrong. Then again, that could be more likely because she'd told them she was going to run away from them and it was non-negotiable.

Talk about the ultimate guilt trip.

Grumpily, she sulked about and for once couldn't stand looking at her books or doing much of anything really. Hurting those two meant hurting herself. She had to go back to Alphonse.

It was hardly what one would call a win-win situation. It was more decidedly lose-lose… on all fronts.

So, when she got tired of her own sulking and her parents' distancing, she did something about it.

"Mom!" Samantha turned to look at her rather determined looking daughter. "I wanna do something!"

"Like?" asked the dark blonde woman.

"Um… Well…" Why was it _now_ that she blanked out? "How about we… go visit someplace? Or go see Grandma Wendy? Maybe we could do both?"

"Evelyn… Today's a school day," scolded her mother.

"So?" The impudent and simple answer took Sam off guard.

"I have work."

"And? You can call us both in sick. Or you could blame me for getting sick to your boss and tell the school I ate some bad food and we just go to the other side of town or out of the city. What do you say?" Sam frowned and shook her head 'no'.

"I've got too much to do today and you do have to go to school. Don't you have a test today?" Immediately, Evelyn felt disheartened.

"Yeah, I do… I'll go get my stuff together." She left the room and went to get the things she needed for school together. Her mom was right. She did have a test and one that she hadn't really needed to study for. It wasn't like she needed to for the most part. Once done, the little blonde returned to the main living area, she found Samantha there and smiling and she eyed her in confused curiosity.

"Well… I thought about it. It's not like you don't get good grades. Perfect grades, actually. And you are usually pretty good with all other sorts of things. I called your father and… well, told him what you wanted to do. He said he was going to come home himself to look after his 'sick' daughter. I'll call the school when it's closer to time, alright?"

"Really?" blinked Evelyn, dropping her bag to the floor. "What about you?"

"The office knows already that you're supposedly sick. I called them a little bit ago. But, I had an idea. Instead of just going to see Grandma Wendy, we go somewhere you can show us your alchemy? I'm sure you've wanted to show us all kinds of stuff and… well, I feel bad that we've been pretty much pretending you're just normal."

It had been a lot more than that, but the alchemist wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Really?" Her voice ached with hope and excitement. There was a startled look in Sam's eyes at the word but those eyes warmed again and she crouched down and held out her arms.

"Really really," she told her daughter and a second later she had an armful of ecstatic child. That was how Brandon found them sometime later when he finally arrived home and once again the two adults were reminded that despite what their child used to be and still was, she was _their_ child and they'd hurt her by accident when neither could face the fact she was nothing like they'd expected.

The resulting outing turned out beautifully as far as Evelyn was concerned. Having gone out to an isolated area in a national park, she showed her parents a number of shapes and forms that she could transmute out of the earth and both shocking and delighting each with inventive and creative designs pulled straight from their favorite stories. Of course, visiting Grandma Wendy had been nice, too. The older woman had been surprised by the visit, knowing full and well that it was a weekday, but she accepted them all the same and they stayed well into the afternoon at the old woman's house, offering up tales and the like as the interactions helped soothe their own troubles.

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One thing that Evelyn really liked about alchemy was that it was so multipurpose. It came in extremely handy for Halloween, for instance. She'd learned all about Halloween and how it had become bastardized over the years to what it was today thanks to learning channels on the television and general research, but she liked the free candy and the romping around the neighborhood while soliciting for sugary treats and dressed in costume.

This year, she decided that she would dress up as girl Thor while Peter went as Loki. Well, the movie versions of Thor and Loki, though she replaced Thor's pants with a just-above-knee length skirt and ensured her knee-high boots were perfect. It was absolutely hysterical when they had come out wearing costumes that were most certainly _not_ store-bought even though they had store-bought costumes their parents provided. For once, the three parents plus Amelia's boyfriend Jonathan were stunned by the two children's rather ornate and rather amazing costumes.

"We _have_ to take them to comic con!" Brandon burst out, staring with wide eyes.

"Pictures!"

"Where did you guys get those costumes?" Jonathan asked of the Dyne parents. "Or did you make them?"

"I'm sure Ed made them, didn't you, princess?" Brandon asked as his wife cheerily snapped pictures of her proudly geeky daughter and her adoptive nephew. It was a subtle question as to whether or not she'd used alchemy. Well, she _had_ and there was no use denying it. Ever since the trip that had helped ease the tensions between them, Evelyn had begun using more and more alchemy about the house to help fix and repair things.

"Yup!" chirped the young girl, posing for the camera with an upraised Mjolnir… or as Darcy called it in the movies, 'Mew-Mew'. She loved Darcy.

"Eddie is awesome like that!" Peter grinned as he hugged his slightly shorter best friend.

"Compliment me some more!" laughed Evelyn, feeling very fine with herself.

"How did you make them?" asked Jonathan while Sam took more pictures, especially of the two hugging like that.

Evelyn gave the man a smirk she learned from Roy Mustang and the look made the man blink. "I have my ways," she told him sweetly. Peter grinned, too, matching her 'Mustang smirk' with his 'Hughes grin'.

"Somehow I think that the costumes ought to be flipped," muttered Amelia, amusement in her eyes as she pulled out her phone and snapped a few shots for herself.

"Hush, now! Our boy and girl are looking very good as they are. I don't think Ed wants to be Loki, do you?"

"Not when I have the awesome hammer to smack people with," Evelyn commented wryly, flourishing said 'hammer' even if it was only molded and painted plastic scaled to fit her size. She wasn't about to try carrying around an actual hammer. For one, she would have eventually gotten tired of hauling it about all night.

"Geez, Ed," groaned Peter. "Violent much?"

"Only a little!"

It became a very long night because the two 'Asgardians' were stopped every so often to pose with every geeky Dick, Tom, and Harry that saw them. Brandon had shifted his idea of going around the neighborhood to going to the mall, where the stores were giving away candy and it was a 'safer zone' for kids to travel around in. Just like he expected, everyone swarmed the two kids the moment they laid eyes on them.

In the end, the haul of candy was so good that Evelyn had judiciously given handfuls of her stash away to other kids along the way back to the car. Peter had pouted over it, but the grins the little girl got had been more than worth it. The seeming generosity was easy enough to peg, though. There was no way they'd be able to eat three or four pounds of candy by the time New Year's came around, though she was certain her family would more than try.

Once again, it was a memorable time and both children fell asleep sometime later than their usual bedtime with smiles on their faces and curled into one another.

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**Please review. I appreciate feedback.**


	4. IV

**Aureate Bonds**

**Summary:** Inside Gluttony, Edward took a gamble to get him, Ling, & Envy out of the unending dark. He used some of Envy's Stone & opened the Gate. But the equation turned out unbalanced & Ed... died. Yet Ed isn't the sort to be beaten easily & he swore he'd be back.

**Ratings and Warnings:** Rated "M" for sake of expediency and my typical writing style. Intermittent foul and 'descriptive' language, a bit of sarcasm, gender bending (Fem!Edward), etc. Special warning for brief puberty related sexual (though non-graphic) content.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own FMA or any other referenced materials, plain and simple. All non-original content is owned by all respective copyright owners. This is not being produced for money but rather for my own amusement.

**Chapter Relevant References:** American Pie, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Wars, Marvel Comics, Firefly, Lord of the Rings

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**Reviews:** Thanks to HollyKirby for both story follow and favorite. Thank you also to Missing Link for your review. And to haneshi47, DarkPhoenix713, and Ide-chan for story follows (and haneshi47 for an author follow, too).

As for what Missing Link said in response to my entry on the last chapter, oh yes it is more than theoretically possible but this world isn't able to do it anymore. _We_ are the ones to have changed and thus it isn't generally possible anymore. A vast majority of people have been told what to think of as possible and impossible. Even I am affected by it and I believe resolutely in what many would deem impossible. As for the other part of your review, eight-slash-nine year old female Ed is more fun to write than a four year old. Even more fun is a pubescent female Ed. I've actually set about trying to figure out ideas because I love Peter/Evelyn interaction and there's so much _play_ room in between these interim years.

Le Confidant, Ed does have issues that direction. And massive issues at that. But for reasons explained in this chapter, she can't just let _go_. She knows that leaving will hurt, but she won't let herself fade into oblivion. And it _is_ sad. Heh... One of my biggest passions is philosophy and I'm considering how Ed is and how he'd react to any given situation. This is a major 'what if'.

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Funny little fact for you all... I didn't realize it until my sister pointed it out to me. Peter is the name of my long-deceased grandfather, may he rest in peace and a man that I still love so very deeply. Joyce _Evelyn_ is the name of his wife and my grandmother. I had actually picked the two at random, honestly, because I've always loved both of the names as they're both strong names. After I get my geekery out of my system once I have my first child (Serenity Marie or Zoë Inara for a girl, James Tiberius or Montgomery Scott for a boy), Peter or Evelyn will have high probability of being my next child's name.

Also, forgive my slower posting. It's been a crazy time. My sister, whom was pregnant, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on the last day of November. Add to the fact the house has finally been repaired (we had massive water damage from a burst pipe) and we're moving back in after a rather disastrous two months in a travel trailer (three humans, two cats, and three dogs in a sardine can), not to mention Christmas and all of that… Since then, it's been just crazy and I didn't exactly have the gumption to post until now.

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**IV:**

Okay, it was official. She hated puberty. Twelve and a half years old and Evelyn now knew what the dreaded menstrual cycle felt like, was reintroduced to raging hormones though this time to the other end of the gender spectrum, and discovered that she did like girly things… especially the idea of heels even though she'd been shot down on that via her mother. Apparently Samantha Dyne's opinion stated that pre-teens weren't _permitted_ to wear heels even if they did make a girl taller. And platform shoes were just as nixed from the list as heels.

She had grumbled disconsolately on that point for a good while until Sam ordered her to do the dishes for her attitude. That day Evelyn learned a very important adult female argument and made sure to remember it very carefully. It was amazingly easy to re-purpose into any number of arguments and didn't even have to have a quantitative answer as to _why_ other than that statement. Oh, yes… Evelyn Dyne was going to remember the line 'because I said so'.

As she had grown, she had readopted certain parts of her 'Edward' wardrobe, but skipped the leather pants as she knew her mother would go for that even less than the idea of her daughter wearing heels. Instead, she subsisted off of black and blue jeans with enough give in them so they wouldn't become restrictive. Elastics were an amazing thing, honestly.

That hadn't been the only development, though. She was beginning to blossom and she was definitely looking more feminine as time progressed. Nothing overly obvious as of yet, but enough that upon examination of herself in her mirror, she couldn't deny that her hips were gaining a touch of flare and that her breasts were beginning to puff out. She hoped it wouldn't become too obvious as it would be harder to hide. And she didn't want to have to relearn her sense of balance again upon getting large breasts or overly abundant hips. Why women wanted to have huge knockers was beyond her.

Knowing that she didn't have a dick between her legs wasn't a huge issue, ultimately. Despite having hit puberty once before as a male, it hadn't been too hard to manage it. Besides, she'd been a girl for years now. Sure, when she was Edward whacking off had become a 'four times a week minimum' sort of deal once he'd figured out how good it felt and he'd found himself taking peeks and visualizing what certain attractive people had had under their clothes. With his devotion to his brother, though, he had sort of shuffled the notions of sexuality onto the back burner. Sure, Edward had been interested in Winry as he felt he ought to have been but with his transformation into Evelyn, suddenly she was pretty sure she had no clue which way she'd lean. Nothing new or remotely remarkable, but it was still annoying. Not to mention, she was pretty certain Ed's mechanic would not likely be interested in a homosexual relationship. If things worked out, Evelyn would certainly _try_ to have that relationship, but…

Moving on because, seriously, that line of thought was depressing.

Her mother had talked to her about the 'birds and the bees' though she'd mostly gotten out of it by citing she knew that much and had gotten such lectures before, but Evelyn had been stuck learning the mechanics of taking care of herself during 'that time of the month'. She had also been quick to get marginal revenge by stating she knew exactly what happened to a girl that got pregnant and knew what it felt like to be pressed through the birth canal, so there were no worries about getting pregnant anytime soon.

It had been oh so satisfying to see Brandon Dyne turn bright red at the thought of his daughter remembering her own birth and the fascinated look on Samantha's face at her descriptions, though she too turned red. Apparently scientific detailing and graphic notations was more than a homicide detective and a woman that had birthed a child could really be comfortable with.

Of course, she wasn't the only one to go through puberty though not everyone jumped on the 'Puberty Express' at the same time. Suddenly it was cool throughout her grade level to have a boyfriend or girlfriend, to hold hands, to kiss… One unfortunate girl got in a little over her head and wound up pregnant just like Evelyn had been warned against. Having boyfriends and girlfriends wasn't a new concept in her age group because some had cottoned onto such ideas back even as early as four years old. Now, though, the entire grade level was really into the idea.

Evelyn hadn't held any interest in getting a boyfriend or a girlfriend and that was mostly because she knew she didn't want to have some relationship going on during her research. She was still more concerned about studying and working on her theory. Problem was, Peter had hit puberty as well, complete with warbling voice that was slowly edging back to the range she remembered from his previous life, and he had left that 'all girls except Ed are yucky' stage. Evelyn was pragmatic about it all, but Peter was beginning to date a bit, though nothing overly serious. The reborn alchemist was more concerned about calculating how to get home. The reborn soldier, however, was concerned that she had no seeming interest in guys and as such had a tendency to heckle her over it.

"I don't _want_ to date," Evelyn explained patiently to Peter after she had pointedly driven off one of his many, _many_ friends that he'd brought over to flirt with her with a few well-placed and pride-deflating comments. She'd had lots of lessons in those thanks to her previous life and knew exactly where best to peg the male ego square in the metaphorical gut. "Besides, that one's got the sense of a doornail."

"Doornails don't have sense," Peter replied automatically only to blink in realization of what he'd just said. "Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'." The slightly older pre-teen grumped before sitting down next to her in a lazy, relaxed fashion and cast an assessing eye over her notebook that she was writing in.

"So, what thing are you studying this week? Ancient civilizations of Tahiti? How to cuss in Brazilian? How to belly dance?" The grin he gave her made her roll her eyes.

"I don't know if Tahiti _has_ ancient civilizations. I'm sure Brazil has its own dialect, but they speak Portuguese and not 'Brazilian'. Belly dancing might be an option when I've got the hips for it." Her last comment made Peter sputter a bit before he regained his composure. Only after he readjusted his glasses, of course, and even then his cheeks were reddening while he kept his gaze averted.

"I was joking about the belly dancing."

Evelyn flashed him a grin. "I know. Anyway, I'm reading up on some stuff."

"Like?"

"How to mentally manipulate you into shutting up."

"Like that'll happen," scoffed the dark haired boy, finally looking over at her again. He didn't believe in magic, which was fine because her alchemist side sometimes still screamed 'foul' on the concept, but Evelyn had already taught herself how to sense chi, increase her speed and strength a bit, do mental exercises that helped beautifully with recall to the point she rarely forgot anything, and had figured out how to augment her alchemy with energy far greater than that of the earth's crust. At the moment, she was trying to devise ways to make an alchemic energy pump so that she didn't have to focus as hard on bringing up the prerequisite energy amount and integrating it into her equations. It was finicky, delicate, and more than a little challenging. Evelyn was having a blast figuring it out even with her time crunch. "So, what are you really studying?"

She looked up at him from her notes. "I'm trying to create an alchemic array that will, ultimately, behave as though it were a pump to draw energy from deep within the earth with the effort of flipping a switch." Peter blinked at her. "It's complicated." Ducking her head back to her notes, she heard him snort slightly.

"No kidding. Alchemists are _weird_."

"Says the photo touting, keep the coffee away from, overly energetic teenager who scares his girlfriends off with his over enthusiasm and eagerness." He pouted at her before sighing and leaning back in his seat to stare up at the florescent lights and bland ceiling tiles above them.

"None of them feel right." Her pencil stilled and she looked up at him again, considering for a moment.

"I know." Peter met her eyes and she gave him a sad smile.

"What haven't you told me, Ed?" he asked in a wistful tone.

"Lots of stuff. But I can tell you you'll be an amazing husband one day. And that you're a great friend."

"I have a feeling I forgot things."

She dropped her eyes back down. "You have," she agreed as she began to write again. "But it's not wrong to forget. Not after everything you went through last time. This is a new life for you, Hughes."

"It's a new life for you, too, Ed."

"No it isn't. Because so long as my brother's trapped…" She looked at him once more with absolute surety, a small smile on her lips. "I am, too." Peter shifted and caught her by the shoulders in a one-armed hug. He pressed his lips against her temple and then backed away again.

"Don't get yourself killed." She couldn't help the mocking cough of a laugh that came from between her lips.

"Too late for that one."

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Perhaps it was crazy of her to pick up yet another thing to study and learn. Perhaps... Well, she was the sort to bite off more than she could chew and anything she did had to be done to the best of her ability if it required the minutest amount of technical skill. So, when it was required that she choose a course in middle school that revolved around the arts, she chose one that could potentially permit her to truly excel at it. Art was out of the question thanks to her poor drawing skills of anything remotely non-alchemy based and she had no interest in home economics or wood shop. She already knew how to cook and alchemy was useful from the smallest of clothing rips to the largest of house repairs. Flower arrangement was just idiotic. Simple was best, after all. Computer graphics was stupid, too, because in just a few short years she'd not need a computer ever again. What was, at that point, left? Music. Choir was nixed because she had no confidence to sing properly. And thus...

"You've joined _band_?" demanded Peter, arching a brow at her as they walked towards the bus stop with their backpacks slung over their shoulders and ready to go home. Unlike her, he'd gone for the more 'manly' option of wood shop.

"Yep," offered his best friend. "And Mom and Dad are going to get me a flute." Somehow, the sudden snigger did not make her feel better and she eyed him warily. "What?"

"Just... nothing. Why the flute?" he asked, a grin lighting his features and making him look somewhat devilish. He was met with a shrug.

"I like flutes."

"So, you gonna go to band camp?"

Arching a golden brow at him, Evelyn slowly replied, "No… It's a school elective. Why would I need to go to a camp?"

"Well, you see..." hedged the dark-haired teen, grinning more broadly as he stuffed his hands into his jean pockets. "You could totally do stuff with it at band camp." He seemed positively delighted when she had no idea what he was referencing. "C'mon, Eddie! I'm sure you've heard of 'American Pie'." Her expression grew absolutely baffled as she tried to translate what he was saying into communicable words. "Aw, come on! 'American Pie'! It's like... an awesome movie that came out years ago! Before we were born!"

"Lots of stuff came out before we were born. How does this relate to anything?"

"Fine, fine! Allison what's-her-name... that chick that played Willow in 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'?" Evelyn nodded slowly, recognizing the title. "Well, she said that she'd done naughty stuff with her flute when she went to band camp." He caught her blank look. "Seriously? Do I have to tell you?" He watched as comprehension appeared in her eyes before disgust and outright discomfort contorted her features. She shifted and stepped very deliberately away from him, causing him to grin merrily. "Hah! Got you!"

"That's disgusting!" she hissed. "Seriously disgusting! Are you saying she shoved the pipe up her... ya know?"

"It was heavily implied?" he shrugged. "And the rest of the movie was pretty... innuendo-filled if not outright blatant."

"Aunt Amy let you watch this?" demanded the short blonde as they stopped near where their bus would come to a halt.

"Er, no... Actually, I got to see it when I was over at Chris's."

"Henley, Reynolds, or Smith?" she asked.

"You actually think Christina Smith would have a 'guy movie'?"

"Hughes," whined Evelyn. "I watch guy movies." He rolled his eyes.

"There's a difference between 'guy movies' and '_guy_ movies'," he pointed out. "You liked stuff that had action and adventure in it. 'American Pie' was more guy humor." Evelyn blinked at him.

"I get guy humor."

"Not anymore you don't. You got offended when I decided I wanted to watch 'Anchorman'."

"That's because it's a stupid movie full of stupid and nonsensical shit."

"It's _guy_ humor." She grunted and rolled her eyes before judiciously dropping it and going back to the previous subject.

"Anyway, Mom's thrilled I'm picking up the flute." She caught sight of his frown even as she watched the bus they were to board pull up to the curb, slow, and stop with a wheezing squawk of air brakes. A moment later, the yellow folding door ratcheted open and the students that were meant to get aboard did so. Sadly enough, there weren't enough seats for the two friends to sit next to one another on a bench, so Evelyn plopped down next to a lone twelfth grader and Peter sat across the aisle and one seat forward with a girl that looked like she was in the second grade. "She says if I get good at it, she'll buy me sheet music."

"Trying to bribe you away from that shop you like going to?"

"Not really," shrugged the blonde as she shifted to let a person past her so that he could get to the back of the bus. "She likes music and maybe she assumes I'll get good at this like everything else I've tried."

"That's cocky of you," scoffed the twelfth grader at her back and Evelyn shot the girl a frown.

"Excuse me," snapped the irritated teenager. "But I don't see how we invited you into this conversation." Peter quickly shot his hand out and flicked her ear and she yipped in surprise even as he looked past her at the surprised young woman.

"Ed's the best at whatever she puts her mind to." He grinned then. "Well, except for drawing anything that isn't geometric. She's not gotten a remotely failing grade, she knows several languages, _and_ she can kick ass with her martial arts." The twelfth grader frowned and snorted before averting her eyes.

"No one can do all that," she dismissed. The retort on Evelyn's lips died the moment Peter grabbed her knee and gripped it warningly. Glaring back, she frowned and pouted. Seems he had her corralled for now.

"So, when you get your flute, you gonna learn it all from scratch?"

"That's the point of the lessons," she nodded slowly, allowing for the slight change in topic. "Well." The golden haired alchemist shrugged. "The lessons in class. I have no lessons otherwise and it's not like I've got a lot of free time after school."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... Study, study, study. That's all you do!"

"What would you have me do? Clone myself?" scoffed the blonde.

"If you could do that..." mused Peter only to grin when she snorted out a laugh as she envisioned what would happen.

"Could you imagine the terror I'd inspire?"

"Oh, you unholy demon you," chuckled the bespectacled teen. "You'd damn well take the world over." At that moment, Evelyn let loose her much practiced evil cackle and made her bench mate and the surrounding people stare even as Peter gave her his sunniest grin.

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The flute was harder to play than initially anticipated. It wasn't that she had no musicality but rather because it did take some technique and musicality to actually play. Several months after initial lessons, she had gotten all but the barest few notes and their corresponding positions memorized. Unfortunately, it irritated Evelyn to not be good at anything immediately and that irritation frustrated her. So, when she didn't feel like studying at that particular moment or sparring or anything like that, she practiced playing the flute. And she tried to practice a little every day after she finished her homework and before she resumed her research.

Her ability, she felt, was directly tied to her alchemy. While alchemy was a science, it was also an _art_. That meant that she had to draw on creativity to mold her transmutations into any kind of detail. And that artistic lean was what she drew on in order to make it sound good. It was her memorization skills that she used to remember all the notes, the techniques, and the sheet music.

And then she fumbled the notes of the piece she was working on. Huffing, she lowered the pipe and glared at it even as her dad moved through. It was Saturday and one of those rare times he'd not been called into work. Seeing her pause in her efforts and give an inanimate object the stink eye, he blinked.

"What's wrong, princess?"

"It's harder than I thought it'd be."

"Nothing worth doing comes entirely easy, you know," he offered, coming over and sitting down next to her to take a glance at the sheet music before huffing slightly. "I used to be able to read that."

This was something she'd not known before and golden eyes blinked at him. "Really?"

"Yeah. Used to play the trumpet when I was in band." Her eyes widened further. "What? You think I was some boring kid or something?"

"Well, no, but you never said anything about it."

He gave her a rueful grin. "Never came up. So, what are you trying to play?"

Returning her gaze to the sheet music, she frowned a bit. "Um, the Star Wars main theme. It's harder than I thought it'd be and my part doesn't sound right without the rest of the band but I wanted to play it right and not just sit and wait for the next class. He chuckled and ruffled her hair, garnering a mild protest.

"Just keep practicing. It's not impossible to get right."

"Right..."

"And if you get good, I'm sure your mom'll get you more music books and you can play more by yourself." Nodding, she looked at her pipe again and lifted it. As she worked on playing the tune, Brandon settled back and watched her focus and work on her piece.

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"Why are we here again?"

"Because it's fun?"

"Statement or question, you idiot?"

"Alright, alright! It's fun to roller skate!" Peter said, poking at her side. She glared at him.

"I'm aware of that, but _why_ are we here?"

"It's Chris Reynolds's birthday."

"And this means _what_ to me?"

"That we are his friends, he is actually doing something more fun than some house party, and you get to exercise, you nut." Peter held up a box he had wrapped in bright blue paper and the words 'To Chris, From Ed and Pete' written in Sharpie across the top. "We even got him a present!"

"I got him nothing."

"Play nice and _smile._ You're not supposed to resemble a thundercloud, Sunshine!"

Entering the skating rink, they were blasted with semi-cool air, music, and a lot of chattering people. Off to one side was the table containing Chris's birthday party with balloons and what looked to be stacks of pizza. Evelyn eyeballed it for a moment before following her best friend through the crowds to the table.

"Hey, Chris!" called Peter, the social butterfly between the two of them. Honestly, it was no surprise despite how intense and noisy he could be. The guy was just _that_ likeable. One dark-haired head popped up from the masses and grinned at them, green eyes glittering a bit although there had been another head that had turned upon the call-out.

'_Seems as though there was more than one 'Chris' at the party,'_ Evelyn mentally mused, noting that it was Christopher Henley.

"Hey, Pete! How're you doin', man?" After the obligatory 'bro-hug' that consisted of some slapping on backs and 'manly' grasping of hands, Peter laughingly saying he was good, Chris turned to Evelyn. "Hey, Ed!" She gave him a smile.

"Hi." Not that she really knew Chris. The guy was one of Peter's many friends, though Evelyn was the only one claiming the spot of 'best'. Her general study, exercise, and practice habits left for little socializing time that she cared to spend on her fellow classmates. It wasn't that she didn't spend time with them (Peter insisted), but she didn't do so by herself very often and usually had her dark-haired friend behave as a buffer. "Happy birthday!"

"Thanks! The big one-three! I'm a teenager now!"

Evelyn played along, well aware of Peter's presence. "Nice!" she told him with a smile that she didn't really feel.

"Where can I put this?" asked her best friend and Chris stopped looking at the aureate girl to point out the rest of the presents. The moment that Peter moved off, Chris's eyes were on her again and he had that look in his eye that Evelyn definitely labeled 'teenager on the prowl'.

"So, when we get done eating a bit, you wanna go skating?"

"This is a skating rink," Evelyn offered sardonically, giving him a Mustang smirk. Apparently the 'Mustang smirk' was not just useful on women for Chris looked a touch under her spell. She'd meant it as a tool to make her look superior as it had often been used on her in the past as Edward though he'd been loathe to admit it had come from the 'Bastard Colonel'. Unfortunately, the superior thing didn't seem to work on those of the opposite sex.

"Great! C'mon. I'll introduce you and Pete to my mom, dad, and sister."

Brought forward by the eagerness and the inability to deny it without seeming rude, Evelyn found herself more than a little in shock. Chris's older sister was a good nine or ten years older, she discovered, and her heart constricted at seeing the beautiful face of one Trisha Elric. Her name in this life, if it really was her former life's mother, was Tiffany. She also had two friends who were dating and they happened to be there, too. Evelyn couldn't help but stare at the familiar faces of Urey and Sara Rockbell, now named Rebecca Trent and David Wilshire and oddly gender reversed as well, and feel pain as she recalled what that old woman had said in the ruins of Xerxes. The odd reaction of the pre-teen was not missed by many, but it was Peter that saw it for its truth and guided the shaken teen away. "What is it?" he asked gently, glancing back so that he could ensure no one came listening in.

"Mom… It was Mom… and Aunt Sara and Uncle Urey," she whimpered as she trembled and felt tears sliding down her face. She touched at her face with shaking fingers, feeling the wetness. "Oh… Hughes… It hurts. But I'm happy, too. They're together… They're happy and together and… Oh…" She buried her face in her hands. "I didn't! I really didn't watch her die again! I didn't kill her!" Peter looked around frantically and dragged her outside, worried for his friend.

"Is this more of what you won't tell me?" he asked quietly.

She looked at him, her face wet and her eyes puffy. But she smiled crookedly at him and seized him into a hug. "Oh, Hughes… You have no idea."

"Are you okay?" That hadn't been Peter to ask and they separated to see Tiffany standing there and looking concerned and uncertain. "The way you rushed off, you looked like you'd seen a ghost. Are you all right?"

The pair shared a long look before Peter stepped back and smiled. "I'm going back in." Before Evelyn could stop him, he was running for the door.

"Asshole!" she shouted after him as the door shut to the roller skate rink.

"Um… Do your parents know you talk like that?" The vague reprimand made Evelyn flinch noticeably, recalling how Trisha had spoken in similar disapproval when 'he' had done something wrong. Not to mention the rules against swearing in public… Dammit. "I'm guessing not."

"They do," the former Edward Elric said to the woman that looked too much like his mother. "Um… Sorry for running off."

She smiled at the pre-teen and chuckled so familiarly it made Evelyn feel like she was that little boy again working to please his mother. "You just looked so awful, like you'd seen a monster."

'_Not too far off,'_ Evelyn mused internally.

"I'm not that ugly, am I?" joked Tiffany, unaware of the mental comment.

"No! You're not!" exclaimed the alchemist, shaking her hands frantically and looking a bit panicked at the thought the woman before her meant her words. "You're fine. More than fine! You're very pretty!"

"Easy now," offered the brunette, quirking an eyebrow at her and looking mildly amused at the reaction as she lightly folded her arms just under her breasts. "So, what freaked you out?"

Evelyn gave her a long look and glanced around the darkened parking lot. Her mom and dad would be by later to pick them up, having gone on a 'date' with Evelyn otherwise occupied. "You looked like someone I once knew," she admitted softly, her eyes still out there on the lot. "Someone that died."

"That must have been hard. How old were you?"

"Five. Still feels like yesterday sometimes," Evelyn murmured, looking back at Tiffany and the woman seemed sympathetic.

"What was her name? If… you don't mind me asking."

"Trisha Elric." There was a spark of something in Tiffany's eyes, but Evelyn didn't see it in the half light. "Your friends… They looked like someone else I knew, too. A married couple that were doctors. They died, too… In a war zone giving aid to the people that needed them most."

"I see," whispered Tiffany, coming to stand next to the pre-teen. She settled a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "I didn't mean to cause you hurt. And Becky and Dave… I don't think they intended it, either."

Evelyn gave her a crooked grin even as she wiped her face clear. "Oh, I know. No worries. It just took me by surprise, that's all."

"It's funny… I swear I've seen your face before, too." The alchemist blinked and looked at Tiffany. "But not _you_ exactly."

"Really?"

The brunette woman gave a slight nod and a small laugh. "So strange… When I looked at you the first time, I thought you were a boy. Which is funny considering what you're wearing." Tiffany glanced at Evelyn's chosen attire, noting the baby blue tee shirt bearing a humming bird and flower design in blacks, grays, and whites going down one side along with the fitted black jeans. "And the length of your hair." The golden eyed girl sniggered slightly.

"I've heard worse," she grinned.

"So, who was Trisha Elric?" Evelyn's smile faded immediately.

"Someone who… I loved very much. Like a mother. She died of an illness." This time, she caught the odd look in the other woman's eyes. "What?"

"I swear… I've heard something like that before. Déjà vu, maybe?"

"Maybe…" Or perhaps she _was_ remembering some of her past life.

"This Trisha… Did she have children?" Strike the 'perhaps'. Evelyn looked at her even as Tiffany continued. "Sons?"

"Yeah. She did. Two of them pretty close in age."

The reincarnated alchemist watched as the woman seemed to struggle with the idea before sighing. "I swear I've heard something like this before," she groused. "And I swear they both had your coloring for some reason. Anyway, we should probably go in, right?"

"True. Don't wanna let people think that we've done disappeared." Listening to the brunette chuckle, Evelyn allowed a smile. This had to be her former life's mother. It had to be her because otherwise how would she have even known that much?

Looping an arm around Evelyn's shoulders, Tiffany guided the younger female back inside the building. The casual contact made her feel a good deal better and Evelyn returned to the party with a real smile and not just a fake one. She even submitted to eating pizza, devouring nearly half of a pie by herself, some cake and ice cream, and skating out on the waxed floor. Peter, who knew Evelyn to be fairly (and obsessively) athletic, was the only one not really surprised when the blonde took to the wheeled shoes easily and even was doing mild tricks in them like skating backwards and spinning after a few minutes of adjusting to them.

He was also the one to deliberately trip her up at one point, starting a mad skating dash to chase him down while shouting after him.

She spent a majority of her time at the party with Tiffany and even the gender-swapped former Rockbells. Evelyn spent as much time as possible learning about both of them so that when she returned home, she could tell her brother and Winry about their parents and their new lives. It was, after all, quite obvious that they were the Rockbells to her because their personalities were very similar to what she remembered of Sara and Urey. And there was no way Evelyn would dare hold such precious information from her family. Peter was easy to tell about to Mrs. Hughes because she'd grown up with him. These three, though…

After an evening of skating and fun and enjoyment all around (as well as one sorely misled Chris as to her actual interest in him thanks to that damn Mustang smirk), Evelyn and Peter went back to their respective homes and fell asleep.

And like Evelyn's usual, she fell asleep on her back and sprawled all ways as she edged her shirt hem up with her left hand. She dreamed that night, but for the first time in ages, she didn't dream of that nasty dream involving Trisha Elric turning into that monster as it begged for 'Edward' to put it back together. No, she dreamed of sunshine and lightning and warm comforting smiles from that most important person.

.

Alright… she had to admit this was pretty cool. Wide-eyed, Evelyn stared about her, Peter just as impressed at her side. They were at a Renaissance Festival for the first time and there were costumes and characters _everywhere_. It was like a strange blend of old and new and… was that _seriously_ some dude running around in an Imperial Soldier uniform? 'Star Wars' didn't exist in the Renaissance era!

Well, neither did tee shirts and stuff, but… Evelyn cast a glance at her attire. It was of jeans and comfortable sneakers and a plain white tee shirt with a logo for Stark Industries across the chest. Peter was similarly attired, only with a blue Guy Harvey shirt on. He'd taken up fishing with his Uncle Brandon, who did so on occasion if only to have an excuse to escape the women folk as well as detective troubles, and had enjoyed sitting about and doing nothing. He also loved the artistically done prints of fish on the tee shirts like the one he wore. Evelyn bore a messenger bag of olive canvas with a stitched on fuzzy bear patch, a fuzzy heart patch, and a little flower in honor of Kaylee Frye from 'Firefly'. It contained a nice bit of money, a similar amount to what Peter carried, that her parents had given her for whatever she wanted to buy. And oh was she gonna spend it!

"Alright. You guys are to stick with us as much as possible, okay?" Brandon told them after he came back from buying two program guides of the grounds. He handed one off to Sam, who immediately opened it to the show times.

"Oh! They've got 'Cast in Bronze'!" she exclaimed.

"Cast in what?" blinked Peter, immediately distracted. A bit more thumbing through the flier showed what she meant.

"This. 'Cast in Bronze' is a guy playing this huge instrument with a bunch of bells on it called a carillon. It's massive and weighs two tons. He can do complex melodies on it thanks to the keyboard like setup he sits at. And it's so loud he has to wear _earmuffs_."

"That sounds pretty cool," mused Evelyn, peering at the description. "What else is here?"

"All kinds of music and free shows. There's even a falconer's show if you want to see some birds of prey," offered her mother. "And all kinds of food and shops."

"Weapons shops, incense shops… and don't you dare take me to one of those," snorted Brandon. "There's book shops, pottery shops, jewelry shops… _furniture_. Henna stands, too. We'll be looking all around."

"Sounds pretty awesome. Shame Mom's not here," mused Peter.

"Well, she did have to go see your grandmother, Pete," offered Brandon even as he patted the teen on his shoulder.

"I probably should have gone with her."

"Everything's fine. Your grandma just needed her to come take care of getting some stuff. It's not bad," soothed Samantha. "And, come on, this is supposed to be _fun_ today. Right?" Peter gave her a small smile.

"Right." He turned those blue eyes on his best friend. "Well, Ed? What're we waiting for?"

"You to stop pouting," she teased. "Where first?"

"Mushrooms." That got a few blinks at Samantha and she blushed. "Oh, come on! I want some fried mushrooms!"

"You _hobbit_," teased Brandon. "Mushrooms it is and I think I remember where it was."

Actually, it turned out he didn't remember initially because they turned a corner and didn't find a thing only to keep walking. During their wanderings, however, they discovered a shop full of leather goods ranging from top hats to dusters to bags. The leather coat was so heavy on Peter's shoulders when he tried it on, he almost immediately put it back. He did immediately put it back when he caught sight of the price tag. Then they paused at a jewelry shop, Evelyn ogling the different necklaces and pendants hanging. She hadn't yet gotten her ears pierced, not wanting to do so as Edward hadn't pierced _his_ ears, and wound up looking at the ear cuffs for an ear jewelry alternative. It had amused her to see the little climbing man ear cuff and bought one before putting it on nigh immediately.

They did eventually find the booth holding not only the fried mushrooms but pork tenderloin on a stick and she happily let her parents buy the food for her just as Peter did. Their spending money would be for the things that the Dynes weren't willing to buy for them.

"So, what do you guys want to do next?" wondered Sam as she finished her mushrooms, ranch smeared on her lip. The woman blinked when Brandon thumbed off the ranch and rolled her eyes when she saw him licking off the salad dressing from the digit. "You could have just told me."

"Where's the fun in that?" The parents judiciously ignored the appalled expressions on the two teens' faces.

"Do you guys have to _do_ that in front of us?!" squeaked Evelyn. Like most children, she had no interest in seeing her parents flirt with each other. Brandon gave her a grin. "Seriously."

"One day you will be in this position and you'll be thinking your kids are so ridiculous," he advised.

She immediately held her reservations about that even as Peter huffed and made some remark. She wasn't sure what he said as her thoughts had turned inward. Evelyn wasn't sure if she wanted children or not. She was pretty sure she didn't want to get pregnant. Sidelining these thoughts, the alchemist stood when the others did the moment they were ready to move on. The 'embarrassing display' that her parents had done was mostly forgotten as she got to see a jousting tournament and then listened to bagpipe music. The Scottish music wasn't something that held her ultimate attention though the mechanics of the bagpipe were interesting to her. Sure, she technically had heritage from Scotland, but she liked the softer tones of the more Irish sounding music. And watching the 'Cast in Bronze' show was something amazing indeed.

Peter had gotten a few CDs from some of the acts and promised her copies of the disks. He also found throwing blades much like the ones he'd used in his previous life and the blades were definitely of good carbon steel, which meant they would hold an edge. Immediately, he bought them and thus used up the rest of his money as well as some of Evelyn's in return for the allowance of the music she'd be getting from him.

Evelyn used the rest of her money on a hair ornament made of silver and would wrap around a small chunk of hair. It just looked freaking awesome to the teen and the silver looked really good against her golden colored hair. It was funny how the lady in the shop asked her if it was her real hair and eye color. That question had been asked a number of times before and she, of course, told those people that it was indeed her natural coloring. It always seemed to gain the same sense of incredulity each time.

As the day began to wind down, they headed back out to the car and climbed in. "Hey, Aunt Sam?" Peter called into the front seat.

"Yes, Pete?"

"Can we come back next year?" asked the dark haired teenager. "That was a lot of fun." Sam and Brandon smiled even as Evelyn nodded in agreement.

"Absolutely," agreed the older blonde woman.

.

.

.

Author's Note: Y'know, Trisha appeared just like Hughes did for me… Completely unexpected and totally unwarranted. Granted, I'm well aware there is very little chance that all of these people would be born so close together but then again it _might_ happen because of the strong feelings Edward had with the various people. The likelihood of Hughes appearing relatively close to where Trisha, Sara, and Urey would be reborn is… improbable. It is also just as improbable that those three would move near to where Hughes and Edward were reborn. But then again, this _is_ a fanfiction and certain contingencies can be made if you dare to forgive them.

Oh, and 'Cast in Bronze' is a real show. Look it up on YouTube if you like. It's pretty awesome.

**Please review. I appreciate feedback.**


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